I. de ‧ feat 1 W3 /dɪˈfiːt/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable and countable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ defeat , ↑ defeatism , ↑ defeatist ; adjective : ↑ defeatist , ↑ defeated ≠ UNDEFEATED ; verb : ↑ defeat ]
1 . failure to win or succeed
defeat in
The socialist party suffered a crushing defeat in the elections.
She was a woman who hated to admit defeat.
2 . victory over someone or something
defeat of
The defeat of the army was followed by the establishment of constitutional government.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ suffer a defeat (=be defeated)
The party suffered a defeat in the state elections.
▪ inflict a defeat on somebody (=defeat someone, especially easily)
The army inflicted a heavy defeat on the English.
▪ admit defeat
If I left my job, I would be admitting defeat.
▪ accept defeat
It can be very hard to accept defeat.
▪ concede defeat (=formally accept that you have lost in a game, election etc)
His opponent conceded defeat.
▪ face defeat (=be likely to be defeated)
In May 1945 Germany faced defeat at the hands of the Allies.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + defeat
▪ a big/bad defeat ( also a heavy defeat British English ) (=by a large amount)
The polls were forecasting a heavy defeat for the President.
▪ a crushing/resounding defeat (=a complete defeat, by a very large amount)
He quit as Prime Minister following a crushing defeat in regional elections.
▪ a humiliating defeat (=very embarrassing)
They are still bitter about their humiliating defeat.
▪ a disastrous defeat (=very big, and with a very bad result)
The party suffered a disastrous defeat in the 2006 election.
▪ a narrow defeat (=by a small amount)
The goalkeeper was blamed for the team’s narrow defeat.
▪ an election/electoral defeat
It was their worst general election defeat since 1982.
▪ a military defeat
The president resigned following a series of military defeats.
▪ a shock defeat British English (=very unexpected)
Arsenal are now out of the competition, following their shock defeat by Torquay Town.
II. defeat 2 W3 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ defeat , ↑ defeatism , ↑ defeatist ; adjective : ↑ defeatist , ↑ defeated ≠ UNDEFEATED ; verb : ↑ defeat ]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Anglo-French ; Origin: defeter 'to destroy' , from Medieval Latin disfacere , from Latin facere 'to do' ]
1 . to win a victory over someone in a war, competition, game etc SYN beat :
They hoped to defeat the enemy at sea.
defeat somebody by something
We were defeated by 3 goals to 2.
REGISTER
In everyday English, people usually say beat rather than defeat when talking about sport, games, or elections:
▪
We were beaten by 3 goals to 2.
2 . if something defeats you, you cannot understand it and therefore cannot answer or deal with it SYN beat :
It was the last question on the paper that defeated me.
3 . to make something fail
defeat the object/purpose (of the exercise)
Don’t let your arms relax as that would defeat the object of the exercise.
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THESAURUS
▪ beat to get more points, votes etc than someone. Beat is used especially in spoken English:
We should have beaten them easily.
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I always beat my brother at tennis.
▪ defeat to beat someone. Defeat is more formal than beat and is used especially in writing:
England were defeated by 2 goals to 1.
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Bush defeated Kerry in the election.
▪ trounce /traʊns/ to defeat someone completely in a game:
They were trounced 20–0 by Kuwait.
▪ thrash British English informal , cream American English informal to beat someone very easily in a game:
Of course, they totally creamed the other team.
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I hope we thrash them!
▪ wipe the floor with somebody informal to beat someone completely in a game or argument:
She wiped the floor with her opponent in the debate.
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They won a £1,000 prize after wiping the floor with the opposition in a bowling competition.