"defy" meaning in English

See defy in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-us-defy.ogg [US] Forms: defy [singular], defies [plural]
Head templates: {{irrnoun|defies}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A defy is a challenge to something.
    Sense id: simple-defy-en-noun-~f-oVw4l

Verb

Audio: en-us-defy.ogg [US] Forms: defy [canonical], defies [third-person, singular], defied [past], defied [past, participle], defying [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|def|y}} [POS TABLE]
  1. When you defy someone, you refuse to do what he or she wants you to do.
    Sense id: simple-defy-en-verb-~GJBy-9R
  2. When you defy something, you challenge it.
    Sense id: simple-defy-en-verb-CJ8YYd~c
     
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "defy",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defies",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defied",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defied",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defying",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "def",
        "2": "y"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He is going to defy her orders for him to come here."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When you defy someone, you refuse to do what he or she wants you to do."
      ],
      "id": "simple-defy-en-verb-~GJBy-9R"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "That politician is willing to defy public opinion, even if it is not politically popular."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When you defy something, you challenge it."
      ],
      "id": "simple-defy-en-verb-CJ8YYd~c"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-us-defy.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "defy"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "defy",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "defies"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "irrnoun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A defy is a challenge to something."
      ],
      "id": "simple-defy-en-noun-~f-oVw4l"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-us-defy.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "irregular"
  ],
  "word": "defy"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "defy",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defies",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defied",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defied",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defying",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "def",
        "2": "y"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He is going to defy her orders for him to come here."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When you defy someone, you refuse to do what he or she wants you to do."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "That politician is willing to defy public opinion, even if it is not politically popular."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When you defy something, you challenge it."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-us-defy.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "defy"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "defy",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "defies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "defies"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "irrnoun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A defy is a challenge to something."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-us-defy.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "irregular"
  ],
  "word": "defy"
}

Download raw JSONL data for defy meaning in English (1.3kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-13 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (aeaf2a1 and fb63907). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.