Defeating the purpose meaning
Defeat Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
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[ dih-feet ]
/ dɪˈfit /
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See synonyms for: defeat / defeated / defeating / defeats on Thesaurus.com
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
verb (used with object)
to overcome in a contest, election, battle, etc.; prevail over; vanquish: They defeated the enemy.She defeated her brother at tennis.
to frustrate; thwart.
to eliminate or deprive of something expected: The early returns defeated his hopes of election.
Law. to annul.
noun
the act of overcoming in a contest: an overwhelming defeat of all opposition.
an instance of defeat; setback: He considered his defeat a personal affront.
an overthrow or overturning; vanquishment: the defeat of a government.
a bringing to naught; frustration: the defeat of all his hopes and dreams.
the act or event of being bested; a beating: Defeat is not something she abides easily.
Archaic. undoing; destruction; ruin.
OTHER WORDS FOR defeat
1 overwhelm, overthrow, rout, subdue.
2 foil, baffle, balk.
7 downfall.
See synonyms for defeat on Thesaurus.com
QUIZ
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Origin of defeat
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English defeten (verb), from Anglo-French, Old French desfait, past participle of desfaire “to undo, destroy,” from Medieval Latin disfacere, equivalent to Latin dis- dis-1 + facere “to do”
synonym study for defeat
1.
Defeat, conquer, overcome, subdue imply gaining a victory or control over an opponent. Defeat suggests beating or frustrating: to defeat an enemy in battle. Conquer implies finally gaining control over, usually after a series of efforts or against systematic resistance: to conquer a country, one's inclinations. Overcome emphasizes surmounting difficulties in prevailing over an antagonist: to overcome opposition, bad habits. Subdue means to conquer so completely that resistance is broken: to subdue a rebellious spirit.
OTHER WORDS FROM defeat
de·feat·er, nounnon·de·feat, nounpre·de·feat, noun, verbre·de·feat, verb, nounWords nearby defeat
defaulter, DEFCON, defeasance, defease, defeasible, defeat, defeated, defeatism, defeatist, defeature, defecate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
MORE ABOUT DEFEAT
What does
defeat mean?To defeat someone is to beat them in a competition or contest.
As a noun, a defeat is a loss (as in That was the team’s first defeat of the season) and defeat is the state of having lost (as in the agony of defeat).
In most cases, the verb beat is a close synonym for defeat, but defeat is more formal (you can beat or defeat someone in a game, but a nation defeats another in war).
As a verb, defeat can also mean to thwart or prevent something from happening, but this is less commonly used.
Example: The Allies defeated the Axis powers in World War II.
Where does
defeat come from?The first records of defeat in English come from the 1300s. It comes from the Old French verb desfaire, meaning “to undo” or “to destroy.” It ultimately derives from the Medieval Latin disfacere, from dis–, which indicates a negation or reversal, and facere, “to do.”
Those who have been defeated in competition have been undone by their opponents—they’ve been bested or beaten (or even destroyed, if the defeat was a decisive one).
Defeat can be used in situations large and small, serious and unimportant: a game of rock-paper-scissors, a championship series, or a war.
A team or athlete who has never lost is often described as undefeated. But that’s rare. Most people who engage in competition, especially in sports, have experienced defeat, and they know it can hurt (that’s the agony in the common expression the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). Those who have been defeated might even feel defeated, which is an adjective referring to the hopeless feeling you can get when you don’t achieve what you wanted to. If a person continues to feel this way all the time, they may develop a defeatist attitude—meaning they never expect to win.
Did you know ... ?
What are some other forms related to defeat?
- defeater (noun)
- defeated (adjective, past tense verb)
What are some synonyms for defeat?
- beat
- thwart
- loss
What are some words that share a root or word element with defeat?
- defeatism
- undefeated
What are some words that often get used in discussing defeat?
- loser
- agony
- victory
- winner
- suffer
- crushing
- vanquish
- conquer
How is
defeat used in real life?Defeat is commonly used in sports and in other situations involving direct competition with a measurable outcome.
In all of its senses, defeat is negative (except of course for the person doing the defeating).
On this day in 1997: IBM’s Deep Blue becomes first computer to defeat a chess champion in match play.pic.twitter.com/H660xSJHhe
— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) May 11, 2020
In a surprising defeat, Germany, defending men’s World Cup champs, eliminated from this year’s tournament in Russia allowing Mexico to advance.
— Polo Sandoval (@PoloSandovalCNN) June 27, 2018
Right. I'm usually really good at cooking / baking, but banana bread has defeated me every single time so far. 🍌🍞
I'm trying a new recipe… Maybe this is the day it turns out well? 🤞😌
— Imola Unger 💐🍃🌊🦦 (@ImolaUnger) May 10, 2020
Try using
defeat!Is defeat used correctly in the following sentence?
He was gracious even in defeat.
Words related to defeat
beating, blow, breakdown, collapse, debacle, destruction, drubbing, embarrassment, failure, killing, loss, massacre, rout, setback, thrashing, triumph, disappointment, downfall, reversal, crush
How to use defeat in a sentence
His defeat six months later was virtually assured in that moment.
The case for Jimmy Carter as a ‘consequential’ president|Russell L. Riley|December 4, 2020|Washington Post
It’s a trade opponents are willing to make, because treating Hill like any other receiver, even any other very good receiver, is inviting defeat.
What to know from NFL Week 12: Tyreek Hill and Derrick Henry took over as the coronavirus loomed|Adam Kilgore|November 30, 2020|Washington Post
They’ll win the Pac-12 North with defeats of California and Washington the next two weeks, and probably go to the Fiesta Bowl if they win the league.
College football winners and losers: Pac-12 playoff hopes disappear with Oregon’s loss|Patrick Stevens|November 29, 2020|Washington Post
Philadelphia responded to that defeat by firing Coach Brett Brown and replacing him with Doc Rivers, who was let go by the Los Angeles Clippers.
Daryl Morey in advanced talks to lead 76ers’ front office|Ben Golliver|October 28, 2020|Washington Post
Many classified the incident as a catastrophic defeat for the government, but the analysis from the Mexico Violence Resource Project suggests a more nuanced interpretation of the impact of those events.
Border Report: The Asylum Process Is in Limbo|Maya Srikrishnan|October 19, 2020|Voice of San Diego
He rebuffed calls to institute the death penalty, and his last term as governor ended in his defeat.
Mario Cuomo, a Frustrating Hero to Democrats, Is Dead at 82|Eleanor Clift|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
After the defeat of ISIS in Sinjar, most other locals have been left wondering who might rule the city in the near future.
Has the Kurdish Victory at Sinjar Turned the Tide of ISIS War?|Niqash|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That defeat was driven largely by Romney losing women voters by an insurmountable 11 points.
Surprise! The GOP Closed the Gender Gap|Patricia Murphy|December 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In recent days, there has been a subtle feeling of defeat permeating through the camp.
The Monuments Men of Occupy Hong Kong|Brendon Hong|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But it certainly contributed, and purposely so, to the defeat of the tough Likud hardliner Yitzhak Shamir in 1992.
The Inside Story of U.S. Meddling in Israel’s Elections|Aaron David Miller|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He saw Gen. Braddock as he passed on to his defeat, and could give a succinct account of that sanguinary action.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
The friars were exceedingly wroth, and combined to defeat the Generalʼs efforts to come to an understanding with the rebels.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman
He will tell you about the success he had in America; it quite makes up for the defeat of the British army in the Revolution.
Confidence|Henry James
But after the defeat at Leipzig King Joachim asked and obtained leave to return to his own dominions.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
But she had experienced an hour of mixed emotions in which a confused and wondering sense of defeat was paramount.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
British Dictionary definitions for defeat
defeat
/ (dɪˈfiːt) /
verb (tr)
to overcome in a contest or competition; win a victory over
to thwart or frustratethis accident has defeated all his hopes of winning
law to render null and void; annul
noun
the act of defeating or state of being defeated
an instance of defeat
overthrow or destruction
law an annulment
Derived forms of defeat
defeater, nounWord Origin for defeat
C14: from Old French desfait, from desfaire to undo, ruin, from des- dis- 1 + faire to do, from Latin facere
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co.
Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
defeat_1 verb - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes
Definition of defeat verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
verb
/dɪˈfiːt/
/dɪˈfiːt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they defeat |
/dɪˈfiːt/
/dɪˈfiːt/ |
| he / she / it defeats |
/dɪˈfiːts/
/dɪˈfiːts/ |
| past simple defeated |
/dɪˈfiːtɪd/
/dɪˈfiːtɪd/ |
| past participle defeated |
/dɪˈfiːtɪd/
/dɪˈfiːtɪd/ |
| -ing form defeating |
/dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/
/dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/ |
jump to other results
to win against somebody in a war, competition, sports game, etc.
synonym beat- defeat somebody/something He defeated the champion in three sets.
- to defeat a rival/an opponent
- The goal is to defeat the enemy by whatever means possible.
- a defeated army
- Garibaldi defeated the Neapolitan army.
- defeat somebody by something The government was defeated by 200 votes to 83.
- Davis defeated Morris by eight points in the semi-final.
- defeat somebody in something Our team was narrowly defeated in the final.
- It was said that he could not be defeated in battle.
Extra Examples
- He said it was impossible to defeat the terrorists militarily.
- The English were decisively defeated by the rebels in the battle that followed.
- The senator was decisively defeated by his rivals.
- She narrowly defeated the rival candidate in the leadership contest.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by
See full entry
to stop something from being successful- defeat something They are united in their determination to defeat global terrorism.
- The proposed bill was decisively defeated in Parliament.
- be defeated by something The motion was defeated by 19 votes.
- Writing down your password so you remember it defeats the purpose of having a password.
- Staying late at the office to discuss shorter working hours rather defeats the object of the exercise!
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by
See full entry
- defeat somebody (formal) if something defeats you, you cannot understand it
- The instruction manual completely defeated me.
- Question 6 defeated us.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by
See full entry
- The instruction manual completely defeated me.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘undo, destroy, annul’): from Old French desfait ‘undone’, past participle of desfaire, from medieval Latin disfacere ‘undo’.
See defeat in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee defeat in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
Check pronunciation: defeat
statistical
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The meaning of the defeat of the Orthodox monarchy / Pravoslavie.Ru
March 14, 1613 Mikhail Romanov was called to kingdom - the 400th anniversary of this historical event falls on March 27, 2013, New Style.
For some historians and journalists, this significant date – 400th anniversary of the house Romanovs, celebrated this year, has become reason to turn not only to the beginning of autocratic reign of the Romanovs, but - and above all - to its end: in the events of 1917 they see a certain regularity confirming the inconsistency and the doom of the very idea of an Orthodox monarchy. So Is the defeat of the Orthodox Church really inevitable? monarchy? Was there a "defeat"? Like a try answers to these questions site Pravoslavie.ru publishes an excerpt from new book by Archpriest Alexander Shargunov "Tsar".
| One minute before execution |
But let's be fair: it follows measure only according to human standards. For everything human affairs, and among them the dispensation of life states and societies on Christian principles, in ultimately doomed to failure. There is never perfect success within earthly history. Tempted to fulfill the Christian ideal here and now - on earth and in time history - there is always a shadow of the Babylonian towers. As if the fate of mankind could end on this earth that has fallen away from God, as if his story could find its purpose and meaning in temporary. Every earthly city, and even the Orthodox monarchy, an unstable union of Jerusalem and Babylon, the city of God and the city of evil. Often tempted the words of Blessed Augustine about "earthly city" and draw the wrong conclusions from these words. It is clear that taken in essence the "earthly city", temporary hail, don't eat something pr o damn God.
This is a normal place where a person lives, created by God, blessed by Him: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue her” (Genesis 1:28). This is the land where we should multiply the talents entrusted to us. It's one thing to create theoretical model of a society where truth reigns, order and peace commanded to creation, destined for our earthly existence - something without which our temporary life cannot do. Nothing but Orthodox monarchy, cannot contribute to the creation and the preservation of these values. But after that follows immediately add that it should not be sent here our spiritual gaze, or, if you like, an ideal plan, denoting the goal towards which our activity. If such an intention were real realizable, temporary human activity directly would correspond to his growth in the eternal. But here's what what really exists: we have not only good nature, which the good Creator wanted to give us, - in history and in life constantly reveals itself our fallen nature, weakened and distorted by sin.
Among the seemingly most favorable circumstances, we see everywhere the indestructible and manifold presence of sin and evil. Only for brief moments the trajectory of the human activity becomes one with the ideal path leading to God. Man is constantly yielding to his passions, and even in the city of justice it submits first of all to the will authorities. The world, as a rule, is a triumph of power, otherwise, what is called order is not based on harmony and love, and this order is nothing more than "an ordered mess". Every good and every value of this lands, whether they are called homeland, art or science, even if they are striving for a higher goal, one should perceive as an intermediate goal, as steps ascension to God, as that through which a person reaches the highest good. Alas, these blessings, these values are in our hands. are often destroyed in their very essence, turning into monstrous cartoons. It doesn't have to be said here about the pessimism of atheist historians who condemn every political system, especially the Orthodox monarchy.
They state everywhere the triumph of sin, evil, resolutely conquering the forces of good: the Orthodox monarchy for them in observed period of history, in terms of of the ideal it proclaims, is only a mockery of him. Realizing the blindness of these historians where they conscientiously mistaken, not seeing the main - bright side of life, we Christians cannot but accept them as partly correct. In the collective history we we find the same bitter experience of defeat as in the personal life in moral terms: “The good that I want, I do not, but the evil that I do not want, I do” (Rom. 7: 19). What was at first a beautiful dream, noble enterprise, as its theoretical image clarified, more and more disappointed. Everything is clearer there was a gap between what people would like to be and what they remain and actually become. Coming the day when this distance becomes too great, and the abyss opens before us.
But every defeat in temporal life, no matter how was, should not lead us to despair, as it happens with Godless people when they see that all of them possibilities have been exhausted. For our hope is running further and higher. Yes, everything earthly is condemned to extinction and evil is increasing. But God never promised us that we would certainly successful in earthly affairs. That's why Orthodox theology - again and again we will to repeat this thought - rejects hope as an illusion millennial kingdom, the kingdom of the righteous with Christ on this earth, subject to evil and death, and in temporal stories. Rather, we should expect the opposite. We we know how God judges false prophets inspired by such imagination. “Let no one,” says the blessed Augustine - does not promise what he does not promise Gospel. Our Holy Scripture does not proclaim in this age nothing but trials and torments, misfortunes, suffering and temptations "(Interpretation on Psalm 39).
13:14). After World War I war, and also after the second people for the most part wanted to hope that this terrible phenomenon forever out of human history. Although comfortable and naive faith of many in straight-line progress dissipated forever as an illusion. Revolution 1917 years old in Russia and its convulsions - a civil war, famine, concentration camps, ruthless extermination of millions people, and in the West an incomparable nightmare Nazi Germany, when the great civilized peoples succumbed to an unprecedented collective madness - speak for themselves. The world that has been achieved - and the further, the more obvious it becomes - just a respite achieved by balance fear and mutual threats of nuclear or chemical death, from time to time hanging over everyone. And we remember the word of Scripture: “When they say: "peace and security", then suddenly destruction will come upon them, and they will not escape” (1 Thess.
5: 3). Where to find the answer in this ideological Babylon, which is today's world? After destruction of the Orthodox monarchy never and nowhere tyranny was not as cruel as in those countries where people believed they were fulfilling destiny humanity. But for us Christians, it is necessary First of all, ask yourself the question: the faith that we confess in the service of Revelation, - enlightens does she us understanding the mystery? Orthodox Christians are often accused of alarmism, in the apocalyptic perception of everything what is happening, in thickening colors. But since participation every person in earth's history, at least visible, finds its end at the hour of death, is very important for us to prevent the distortion of the Christian ideal in world was not accompanied by the atrophy of apocalyptic hope. The end of the world, as it is usually called, is the definition with different meaning.
For if it is true that "it passes image of this world" (1 Cor. 7:31), then, as they say holy fathers, only his image, form disappears, but not essence. Wonderfully transformed, the world will be new and better – and this will be the last day of universal history. At many, alas! even among professed Christians, this day is held in the mind as an image of a catastrophe, filled with despair and fear. As if this day The second coming of the Lord should not be for us all-surpassing hope, as if Christians should not were living in anticipation of the victorious return of Christ, “delivering us from the coming wrath” (1 Thess. 1:10), as if the Scriptures never ended words: “Yes, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). But great catastrophes have exceptional benefits when the blood of the innocent and the blood martyrs cries out to heaven: “How long, Lord, Holy and True?" (Rev. 6:10). And here is the answer to the question about sense of history.
The meaning of history is a deep test of faith.
progress in Christianity is not linear and not horizontal, it - vertical. It is measured by eternity, not duration of times. Christianity always requires us a resolute and complete appeal. "Repent!" - the first word of the sermon St. John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2) and the Savior Himself (Matt. 4:17), as well as the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38). This is what is required of us today only on a personal level, but also in a genuine vision of the decisive events of history. And just as important is another key word, constantly resounding in the Gospel: "Do not be afraid! - confidence that among the most hopeless darkness there is always a solution and what is here source of unbridled joy. Alas, more often Christianity is spoken, wishing to exalt or humiliate him with purely earthly point of view: does it contribute to the external prosperity or, conversely, leads to decline. To know authentic human history in its entirety, in its fullness, or at least in some of its period, one must be God – To those “who was, who is and who is to come” (Rev.
1:4). Or you have to be with God, the Divine - those who, by the gift of Christ, know where we are going.
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