defeat
$ \mathrm{defeat}^1
verb
/dɪˈfiːt/
1 to win against somebody in a war, competition, sports game, etc.
SYNONYM beat
defeat somebody/something He defeated the champion in three sets.
to defeat a rival/an opponent
The goal is to defeat the enemy by whatever means possible.
a defeated army
Garibaldi defeated the Neapolitan army.
defeat somebody by something The government was defeated by 200 votes to 83.
Davis defeated Morris by eight points in the semi-final.
defeat somebody in something Our team was narrowly defeated in the final.
It was said that he could not be defeated in battle.
TOPICS War and conflict B2
TOPICS Sports: other sports B2
Collocations
adverb
comprehensivelyconvincinglydecisively…
preposition
by
2 to stop something from being successful
defeat something They are united in their determination to defeat global terrorism.
The proposed bill was decisively defeated in Parliament.
be defeated by something The motion was defeated by 19 votes.
Writing down your password so you remember it defeats the purpose of having a password.
Staying late at the office to discuss shorter working hours rather defeats the object of the exercise!
TOPICS Difficulty and failure B2
3 defeat somebody (formal) if something defeats you, you cannot understand it
The instruction manual completely defeated me.
Question 6 defeated us.
$ \mathrm{defeat}^2
noun
/dɪˈfiːt/
1 uncountable, countable failure to win or to be successful
The party faces defeat in the election.
They suffered a narrow defeat in the final.
a heavy/humiliating/crushing defeat
The world champion has only had two defeats in 20 fights.
They finally had to admit defeat (= stop trying to be successful).
to concede/accept defeat
defeat by somebody their defeat by the Brazilians
defeat against somebody last week's defeat against Manchester United
a punishing defeat at the hands of Iceland in the World Cup
in defeat He was gracious in defeat, acknowledging his opponent's greater skill.
a series of small victories and defeats
TOPICS Difficulty and failure B2
TOPICS War and conflict B2
Collocations
adjective
completecomprehensivedecisive…
verb + defeat
acceptadmitconcede…
preposition
defeat againstdefeat by
phrases
defeat at the hands of somebodyturn defeat into a victory
2 countable, usually singular the act of winning a victory over somebody/something
The army inflicted a heavy defeat on rebel forces.
the defeat of fascism
TOPICS Sports: other sports B2
Idioms
snatch victory from the jaws of defeat
Word Origin
late Middle English (in the sense ‘undo, destroy, annul’): from Old French desfait ‘undone’, past participle of desfaire, from medieval Latin disfacere ‘undo’.