word-vault/dist/data/cards/de/defy.json

A lightweight JavaScript package for English word definitions and collections.

{
    "term": "defy",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "defy",
            "heSheIt": "defies"
        },
        "pastSimple": "defied",
        "pastParticiple": "defied",
        "ingForm": "defying"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "to refuse to obey or show respect for somebody in authority, a law, a rule, etc.",
            "sensetop": "defy somebody/something",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I wouldn't have dared to defy my teachers."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Hundreds of people today defied the ban on political gatherings."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He is willing to defy his own party."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Journalists were openly defying the authorities."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The protesters continued to defy a court injunction."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Permission and obligation"],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["openly"],
                "verb + defy": ["be prepared to", "be willing to", "continue to"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "to be impossible or almost impossible to believe, explain, describe, etc.",
            "sensetop": "defy belief, explanation, description, etc.",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a political move that defies explanation"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The beauty of the scene defies description."
                },
                {
                    "text": "His face was so odd that it defies description."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "to successfully resist something to a very unusual degree",
            "sensetop": "defy something",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The baby boy **defied all the odds** and survived *(= stayed alive when it seemed certain that he would die)*."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "used to say that somebody should try to do something, as a way of emphasizing that you think it is impossible to do it",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I defy anyone not to cry at the end of the film."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I defy you to leave without buying something."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈfaɪ/",
                "audio": "de/defy/defy__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈfaɪz/",
                "audio": "de/defy/defies__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈfaɪd/",
                "audio": "de/defy/defied__gb_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈfaɪɪŋ/",
                "audio": "de/defy/defying__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈfaɪ/",
                "audio": "de/defy/defy__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈfaɪz/",
                "audio": "de/defy/defies__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈfaɪd/",
                "audio": "de/defy/defied__us_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈfaɪɪŋ/",
                "audio": "de/defy/defying__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English (in the senses ‘renounce an allegiance’ and ‘challenge to combat’): from Old French desfier, based on Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + fidus ‘faithful’."
}