“Trent,” said the first bidder in a tone that seemed to defy all competition. To resist is to openly refuse to do anything. You can defy the “no costumes in class” rule when wearing your fairy wings to school, but don`t try to defy the laws of gravity unless you can actually fly. partly borrowed from Middle French deffy, a noun derived from “to challenge, defy entry 1”, partly derived from defy entry 1 It was probably this opposition that led the young Cargill to decide that it was really worth challenging the legend. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, explicitly called on French Muslims to oppose the ban. The buildings leaned crazy and defied the law of gravity. He could not bear to reveal his terrible situation to his uncle David, to kill himself or to defy Longcluse`s revenge. The political implications are clear – but the battle lines that will emerge are likely to challenge party lines. To say this is to make a statement that is so obvious that it defies the need for a quote.
I have never seen bows of more graceful shape or better adapted to defy the attacks of time. The Simpsons really defy all expectations in terms of normal lifespan. The man who once seemed to defy death completely preserved his reputation and rewards long after his death. If they are still modern and alive, I challenge you to bury them if you discuss living issues fully and honestly. If you intentionally break a rule or ignore an order, challenge or resist that rule. The word defy comes from the Latin word disfidare for “to renounce faith”. So if you are expected to be faithful to a certain law or rule, but refuse to be, you resist it. There are many ways to challenge your parents by staying above curfew, or defy common sense by coming with shoes on your head. Once again, we have seen the disturbing scenes in which young and old defy riot police and arbitrary detention in an authoritarian state. Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press! Find out which words work together and create more natural English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Find the answers online with Practical English Usage, your go-to guide to problems in English. Note: The meaning of the story may have been “breaking the faith” > “despising” > “defying a fight”, although the latter meaning seems to be the oldest in Old French. Middle English defien “renounce, deny, despise, defy to fight”, borrowed from English-French defier, desfier, de-, des- de- + proud “to promise, trust, rely on”, back to vulgar Latin *fä«dÄre, Latin Reformation for “trust (in), trust (in)” – more under the entry of faith 1.