defies

4 definitions • 8 examples

to refuse to obey a person, decision, law, situation, etc.:

It is rare to see children openly defying their teachers.

A few workers have defied the majority decision and gone into work despite the strike.

defy the law The fact that aircraft don't fall out of the sky always seems to me to defy (= act against) the law of gravity.

A forest fire raging in southern California is defying (= is not changed by) all attempts to control it.

to be extreme or very strange and therefore impossible to believe, describe, or explain:

The chaos at the airport defies description.

to tell someone to do something that you think will be impossible:

I defy you to prove your accusations.

to refuse to obey or to do something in the usual or expected way:

They defied an evacuation order and stayed in town during the hurricane.

He defied the odds (= did what no one expected) and won the race for mayor.