to defy
54
5.5
- verb
- /dɪˈfaɪ/
:
escapar a
- The magician performed a trick that seemed to defy explanation, leaving the audience in awe.
- defy explanation
- defy logic
- seem to defy
Human emotion produces effects which defy the conventional laws of physics.
- Human emotion produces effects which defy the conventional laws of physics.
- We're observing phenomena that continues to defy conventional explanation.
- And they found something that completely defies all understanding.
- She had an unbelievable finishing split that defies logic.
- And when people say art defies definition, then how do you know it's art?
- I'm just shocked that we that this one sort of defies the normal pattern.
- It it's, it's so outrageous as to like almost to defy logic.
- Like what is what is transpiring that defies the the preset in the mind?
- And so I was interested in doing making a mania that defies what everyone knows.
Examples
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And they found something that completely defies all understanding.
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Amazing that we are about to defy those odds, isn't it?
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no man can defy the laws of nature forever
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So many of the events described in your report defy belief.
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With your abilities, you can defy the laws of time and space.
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Human emotion produces effects which defy the conventional laws of physics.
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China remains a divided nation of two governments and novel attributes that defy conventional international legal analysis.
Academic text (1996) -
People today are doing amazing things at all ages and defying the odds.
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A monster of a treaty had been drafted, and it defied popular understanding.
Academic text (1992) -
Nor should they, since the forceful emotions that roil within her defy easy explanation.
Academic text (2013)
Synonyms
4
7.5
Be hard to explain or understand
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
1
6.2
To succeed or survive despite big problems that make success unlikely
How Explainable
Surface Forms
Etymology
Defy can also mean 'to be impossible to explain' because the old parts give the idea of being 'beyond belief': de- 'away' plus a part like faith 'trust'. So when something 'defies' description, it is too strange or powerful to be put into words.