defeat

defeat — verb

1. to beat an opposing person, team, or army in a sports match, battle, election, o

1.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to beat an opposing person, team, or army in a sports match, battle, election, or other contest by performing better than them

Example

The home team defeated their city rivals by a score of three goals to one.

defeat + score : result format

Esme trained for six months and finally defeated the defending champion in the final round.

defeat + competitor in a tournament context

Common collocations
  • decisively defeat
  • narrowly defeat
  • defeat the enemy
  • defeat an opponent
  • defeat a team
Synonyms
  • beat

    more common in everyday speech; less formal than defeat

  • overcome

    implies struggling against and conquering a difficulty or opponent

  • conquer

    stronger, suggests total control after winning, often used for armies or territories

Antonyms
  • lose to

    the opposite outcome: to be beaten by the opponent

  • surrender to

    implies giving up without necessarily being outperformed

Grammar Patterns

defeat + noun phrase (the opponent, the team, the enemy)

Usage Note

Frequently used with a specific score, margin, or description of how the victory was achieved. The subject can be a person, team, army, or party, and the object is the opponent.

Common Mistakes

The team defeated the match.
The team defeated their opponents in the match.
defeat takes the opponent as object, not the event.

2. to prevent a plan, effort, hope, or idea from achieving its intended result, or

2.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to prevent a plan, effort, hope, or idea from achieving its intended result, or to make it too difficult for someone to succeed at something

Example

A software bug defeated all our efforts to launch the website before the holiday.

defeat + effort / attempt

The crossword puzzle defeated Yuki for nearly an hour before she found the last answer.

defeat + [person] : task as subject

Common collocations
  • defeat the purpose
  • defeat an attempt
  • defeat an effort
  • defeat a plan
Synonyms
  • thwart

    more formal, often implies deliberate prevention by someone

  • foil

    dramatic tone; suggests clever or timely prevention

  • frustrate

    focuses on the feeling of annoyance caused by the failure

Antonyms
  • enable

    to make something possible, the opposite of causing failure

  • facilitate

    to help a process succeed

Grammar Patterns

defeat + noun phrase (a plan, an attempt, a purpose)

Usage Note

In this sense, the subject is usually a problem, obstacle, or difficulty, and the object is the plan, effort, or person trying to do something. Unlike sense V1, this does not involve a human opponent.

Common Mistakes

The math problem defeated me of doing it.
The math problem defeated me.
defeat takes a direct object without a preposition.

defeat — noun

Word family

  • defeated
    adjectiveB2
  • defeatist
    nounC1
  • defeatism
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Defeat, beat, overcome, and conquer all describe winning against someone or something, but they differ in tone and scope. Defeat is the most neutral and formal term, suitable for sports, war, and elections: 'the army defeated the rebels.' Beat is the everyday alternative — more common in casual speech about games and matches: 'She beat me at chess twice in a row.' Overcome suggests struggling against and rising above a difficulty, not necessarily a human opponent: 'He overcame his fear of public speaking.' Conquer is the strongest of the four, implying total control after victory, often over a territory or a major challenge: 'The Romans conquered most of Britain.' In everyday use, choose beat for informal competition, defeat for neutral reporting, overcome for personal struggles, and conquer for dramatic achievements.

defeat ↗beat ↗overcome ↗conquer ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

Phrases

  • suffer defeat
  • face defeat
  • admit defeat
  • concede defeat
  • snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

The word defeat entered English in the 1300s from Old French 'desfait' (past participle of 'desfaire' — 'to undo, destroy'), which came from Latin 'dis-' (apart, away) + 'facere' (to do, to make). Originally it meant 'to undo or destroy,' but by the 1500s it had settled into its modern meaning of winning against an opponent in battle or competition. The noun form appeared around the same time, referring to the act of being undone or overthrown.