defeat

English

Etymology

from Old French desfait, from the verb desfaire Latin des + faciō (to unmake).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈfiːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːt

Verb

defeat (third-person singular simple present defeats, present participle defeating, simple past and past participle defeated) (transitive)

1. To overcome in battle or contest.

   Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

2. To nullify; to reduce, to nothing, the strength of.

   We can defeat this perjury charge, but I can't let you testify in your own defense.

   I'd let you in on it, but that would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? It's a secret from you.

   Ha ha ha! I've defeated his plan!

Synonyms

To overcome in contest

beat conquer overthrow

rout vanquish

Related terms

Related terms

defeasance defeasible defeater

defeatism defeatist defeature

Translations

to overcome in battle or contest

• Arabic: غلب (ar) (ġálaba)
• Aromanian: azvingu (rup), frãngu (rup), anichisescu (rup), bat (rup)
• Asturian: vencer (ast)
• Bulgarian: разбивам (bg) (razbivam), побеждавам (bg) (pobeždavam)
• Catalan: vèncer (ca)
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 打敗 (cmn), 打败 (cmn) (dǎbài)

• Czech: porazit (cs)
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: verslaan (nl), overwinnen (nl)
• Esperanto: vinki (eo)
• Finnish: voittaa (fi), päihittää (fi)
• French: vaincre (fr), défaire (fr)
• Galician: vencer (gl), derrotar (gl), bater (gl)
• German: schlagen (de), besiegen (de), niederringen (de)
• Greek: νικώ (el) (nikó), ανατρέπω (el) (anatrépo)
• Hebrew: הביס (he) (hevís)
• Hungarian: legyőz (hu)
• Irish: buaigh ar (ga), faigh an lámh in uachtar ar (ga), cloígh (ga)
• Italian: sconfiggere (it), battere (it)
• Japanese: 負かす (ja) (まかす, makasu), やっつける (ja) (yattsukeru), 倒す (ja) (taosu)

• Khmer: ឈ្នះ (km) (cneah)
• Latgalian: īveikt, puorveikt
• Latin: vincere (la)
• Latvian: uzvarēt (lv), sakaut (lv), uzveikt (lv)
• Lithuanian: nugalėti (lt), įveikti (lt), sukauti (lt)
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: overvinne (no), beseire (no)
• Occitan: vencir (oc)
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: شکست دادن (fa) (šekast dâdan)
• Polish: pokonać (pl)
• Portuguese: derrotar (pt), vencer (pt)
• Quechua: llalliy (qu)
• Romanian: învinge (ro), înfrânge (ro), bate (ro)
• Russian: побеждать (ru) (pobeždát’) impf., победить (ru) (pobedít’) pf., разбивать (ru) (razbivát’) impf., разбить (ru) (razbít’) pf.
• Spanish: derrotar (es), vencer (es)
• Swedish: besegra (sv), övervinna (sv)
• Telugu: ఓడించు (te) (ōḍiṃcu)
• Turkish: yenmek (tr), mağlup etmek (tr)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can

to nullify

• Catalan: arruïnar (ca)

• Spanish: arruinar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: mengalahkan (id)

Noun

defeat (plural defeats)

1. The act of defeating or being defeated.
   • 2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, BBC Sport:

     Two defeats in five games coming into this contest, and a draw with Everton, ultimately cost Sir Alex Ferguson's side in what became the most extraordinary finale to the league championship since Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield in 1989.

Translations

the act of defeating or being defeated

• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: اندحار (ar) (indiħār) m, انكسار (ar) (inkisār) m, هزيمة (ar) (hazīma) f
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: պարտություն (hy) (partut'yun)
• Aromanian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: vencimientu (ast) m
• Azeri: please add this translation if you can
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: поражение (bg) (poraženie) n, унищожение (bg) (uništoženie) n
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: venciment (ca) m, derrota (ca) f
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 败仗 (cmn) (bàizhàng)

• Czech: porážka (cs) f
• Danish: usejr (da) c, tab (da) n
• Dutch: nederlaag (nl)
• Esperanto: malvenko (eo)
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: ósigur (fo) m
• Finnish: tappio (fi), häviö (fi)
• French: défaite (fr) f
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: vencemento (gl) m, derrota (gl) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Niederlage (de) f
• Greek: ήττα (el) (ítta) f
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hausa: please add this translation if you can
• Hawaiian: hāʻule, eo, make
• Hebrew: (act of being defeated) תבוסה (he) (tvusa) f
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: vereség (hu), kudarc (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Igbo: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingue: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: díomua (ga) m, briseadh (ga) m, maidhm (ga) f

• Italian: sconfitta (it) f, disfatta (it) f, fallimento (it) m, insuccesso (it) m
• Japanese: 敗北 (ja), 挫折 (ja)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: ការឈ្នះ (km) (kaa chneah) (act of defeating), ការចាញ់ (km) (kaa jañ) (being defeated)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kurdish: please add this translation if you can
• Kyrgyz: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: clades (la) f
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Marathi: please add this translation if you can
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: nederlag (no) n
• Novial: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: vencement (oc) m, venciment (oc) m
• Old English: please add this translation if you can
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: شکست دادن (fa)
• Polish: porażka (pl) f
• Portuguese: derrota (pt) f, vencimento (pt) m
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: поражение (ru) (poražénije) n
• Scottish Gaelic: call (gd) m
• Sicilian: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: porážka (sk) f
• Slovene: please add this translation if you can
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: vencimiento (es) m, derrota (es) f
• Swedish: nederlag (sv) n, förlust (sv) c
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: ఓటు (te) (ōṭu), ఓటమి (te) (ōṭami)
• Thai: ความปราชัย (th) (kwaam bpraachai)
• Turkish: yenilgi (tr), mağlubiyet (tr)
• Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: please add this translation if you can