verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
beat/overcome/defy the odds (= succeed despite great difficulties )
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The baby, born sixteen weeks too early, defied the odds and is celebrating her first birthday.
defy common sense (= not be sensible )
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The proposed change in the law defies common sense.
defy convention (= not do what is accepted or normal )
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At the time she was defying convention by living with a man.
defy logic (= to not be reasonable )
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It defies logic to import food that we can grow more easily and cheaply here.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
openly
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But the relationship with Pataki deteriorated precipitously in recent days as McCaughey Ross openly defied him.
■ NOUN
ban
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He thought she was probably here without his permission, perhaps defying a specific ban .
convention
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To defy convention , surrender her virginity, to a man she neither loved nor desired must be quite out of the question.
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Amber, nevertheless, defied conventions , behaved outrageously, and pursued her man in a manner quite unusual for the 19405.
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He had been ready to defy the conventions and take on the world - and win! he thought.
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But thankfully, Leeann Tweeden defies this rotten convention-and how!
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You could, of course, defy convention and make all your early turns to the right.
court
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Faubus had defied the federal court .
death
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When he found her, he defied the power of Death to keep her from him; and Death yielded.
description
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Two other women lay upon the counter a pickle-bottle and a glass vessel of a kind which altogether defies description .
government
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Another backbencher was told his place on a Foreign Office organised trip would be withdrawn if he defied the Government .
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In effect, South Carolina had again successfully defied the national government .
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The Asaimara were thereby convinced they could successfully defy the Government .
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Would she send the troops in to show that nobody could defy the federal government ?
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The conservatives surprised everyone by agreeing to defy the government and overspend by almost as much ... ten million.
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Gloucestershire County Council would defy the Government and spend an extra £10m.
gravity
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It should, because the gravity-defying performance of stocks in London and New York is eerily redolent of 1929.
law
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Miners' leader Arthur Scargill's call to defy Tory union laws was rejected.
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Two people who defied law enforcement barricades, and who were arrested and jailed, spoke at the meeting.
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They have rewritten the record books, stormed the male bastion of Grandmaster chess, and defied the laws of probability.
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They defy customs, laws and traditions in a move toward social, moral and political liberty.
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Bosses defied the law to woo last-minute Christmas shoppers from Oxford Street rivals.
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Like the rest of the glass, he wrote, it defies the second law of thermo-dynamics.
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In their anomalous behaviour electric arcs seemed to defy Ohm's Law and she discovered the cause of this.
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Apparently it defies the laws of physics.
logic
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For the song of the suffering servant helps unlock the mystery that defies logic .
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The Raiders could make a great second-half run, but that would defy logic .
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With all these artists' patches there are some sounds which are great and others which defy logic .
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It is an industry that, recently anyway, almost defies logic .
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This is a precious text, its publishers and authors are saying, that gloriously defies vulgar commercial logic .
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The rally has defied all odds and logic with only two, short interruptions since it began its climb in August 1982.
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When, defying logic , the Burt Bacharach horns come in, it's the pop moment at its life-affirming best.
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The afternoon stretches on and on, defying the logic of watch time.
odds
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In the event, the cyclist defied the odds and survived.
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That Jaime Guerrero is alive to attend the dinner probably defies the odds .
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This movie defied all the odds .
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The rally has defied all odds and logic with only two, short interruptions since it began its climb in August 1982.
order
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Of course, he defied doctor's orders , and in 1977 he died of a massive heart attack, aged sixty.
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Sunday, throngs of demonstrators defied orders to disperse.
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Together, the three formed a faction whose parliamentary members last October defied orders from their leadership and voted in favour of Maastricht.
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Even if we live as pure as nuns, we defy the patriarchal order just by existing.
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At home, Edna was in her final campaign against Jane Ming-li, who continued to defy the new order .
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An animal which can not be classified defies the order of things.
rule
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Helicopters appear to defy this rule by having wings that rotate within a disc.
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He was wildly irreverent, too, and loved nothing better than defying rules and deflating self-important petty officials.
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She ran a bath, defying the rule by more than half filling the tub instead of sticking to the permitted five inches.
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To act on or defy a socially established rule has effects on all who benefit or suffer by its observance.
■ VERB
seem
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In their anomalous behaviour electric arcs seemed to defy Ohm's Law and she discovered the cause of this.
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That trade that seems to defy conventional wisdom?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Billy defied his mother, and smoked openly in the house.
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Scopes was forbidden to teach Darwin's theory of evolution, but he defied the law.
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She said she would defy the party leader and vote against him.
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This celebration of Thanksgiving defies tradition.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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For the song of the suffering servant helps unlock the mystery that defies logic.
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It is an industry that, recently anyway, almost defies logic.
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Its meteoric ascent defied the usual explanations.
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Only deer slots in the mud have defied the access restrictions.
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The conservatives surprised everyone by agreeing to defy the government and overspend by almost as much ... ten million.
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Through their various plights, the drama questions a world where feminine ideals regularly defy rational explanation.