Word Finder - defied

definition

To challenge (someone) or brave (a hazard or opposition).

example

to defy an enemy;   to defy the power of a magistrate;   to defy the arguments of an opponent;   to defy public opinion

definition

To refuse to obey.

example

If you defy your teacher you may end up in detention.

definition

To not conform to or follow a pattern, set of rules or expectations.

definition

To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.

His shoulders moved with a graceful swing that defied the quick step.

Still she defied him.

Flying downhill produced an exhilaration that defied explanation.

I defied Death to rescue her.

The religious penal code it was thought meritorious to evade; the commercial penal code was ostentatiously defied; and both tended to make Ireland the least law-abiding country in Europe.

Londonderry, Enniskillen, Coleraine, Carrickfergus and some other places defied Sir Phelim O'Neill's xiv.

She stepped closer to him as she had in their dream, gazing up into his molten silver eyes.  He'd gone to Hell for Hannah and confronted Death for her.  He'd killed demons to protect her and defied his family to find – and keep – her.

In the great upheaval of the Renaissance and the Reformation it was certain to be defied.

It is not strange that these fortifications defied the assaults of barbarism upon the civilized life of the world for more than a thousand years.

The instants of contact between the limbs of the sun and planet defied precise determination.

When she was brought before the 6th council of war in December 1871 she defied her judges and defended the Commune.

In England, by the boldness of the Lancet (founded in 182 3), the tyranny of prescription, inveterate custom, and privilege abused was defied and broken down; freedom of learning was regained, and promotion thrown open to the competent, independently of family, gild and professional status.

Of these risings the first (December 1848-July 1849) took place in Mazandaran, at the ruined shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, near Barfurush, where the Babis, led by Mulla Muhammad `Ali of Barfurush and Mulla Husayn of Bushrawayh (" the first who believed "), defied the shah's troops for seven months before they were finally subdued and put to death.

Created by the legendary Agnes Nixon, One Life to Live soap opera defied wasp conventions of soap operas of the time by featuring more social, economic and racial diversity in the town.

Angie and Jesse broke barriers in the early 80s with a love story that defied race, socio-economic background differences and more.

Whedon's vision of the future defied logic once and maybe it can do it again.

Sulu defied Starfleet orders to mount a rescue mission to recover Kirk and Spock.

He held his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes, trying to make sense of something that defied all logic.

Torgud was now summoned to Constantinople to answer for piracies committed on the friendly galleys of Venice; but he sailed instead to Morocco, and there for two years defied the sultan's authority.

The central authority in Austria was steadily breaking down, and the food crisis was rendered still more acute by the widespread formation of " Green Cadres " - well organized armed bands which held positions in the mountains and defied capture.

He refrained from public preaching, but held conferences in St Mark's with large gatherings of his disciples, and defied the interdict on Christmas Day by publicly celebrating mass and heading a procession through the cloisters.

In the struggle between church and empire it always held with the former; and it defied the forces of Frederick II.

Afterwards, amidst the ruins of their army, two battalions of the 1st Grenadiers of the Guard defied all efforts to break them.

Albany successfully defied his usurped authority until his recognition was necessary to a united front against the French and their Indian allies, who, in February 1690, had surprised and burned Schenectady.

Saratov and Samara were captured, but Simbirsk defied all efforts, and after two bloody encounters close at hand on the banks of the Sviyaga (October 1st and 4th), Razin was ultimately routed and fled down the Volga, leaving the bulk of his followers to be extirpated by the victors.

Even the Persian myth is entirely obscure, and has hitherto defied interpretation.

In Goshen the Boers defied his authority, while in Stellaland only a half-hearted acceptance of it was given.

Aristomenes and the survivors retired to the mountain stronghold of Eira, where they defied the Spartans for eleven years.

Eastern Karen-ni was never reduced until Sawlapaw, having defied the British government, was overcome and deposed by General Collett in the beginning of 1889.

In 1701 he elbowed the Dutch troops out of the barrier towns; he defied England by recognizing James III.

In 1236, during another short stay in Germany, Frederick in person led the imperial army against Frederick II., duke of Austria, who had defied and overcome his repreFrederick sentatives; having taken possession of Vienna and Germany.

In June 1149 the admiral appeared before Constantinople and defied the Basileus by firing arrows against the palace windows.

If Hippias, Polus and Thrasymachus defied conventional morality, they did so independently of one another, and in this, as in other matters, they were disputants maintaining paradoxical theses, rather than thinkers announcing heretical convictions.

The salar now defied Murad Mirza, Nasru d-Dins uncle, who was besieging the city.

Thyrsis sings to a goatherd how Daphnis, the mythical herdsman, having defied the power of Aphrodite, dies rather than yield to a passion with which the goddess had inspired him.

He was allowed to survive in close prison some eight months longer, but when his robust conititution defied all attempts to kill him by privations, he was murdered by the orders of the queen and Mortimer at Berkeley Castle on the 21st of September.

The king marched against him in person in 1400 and 1401, but Glendower showed himself a master of guerrilla warfare; he refused battle, and defied pursuit in his mountains, till the stores of the English army were exhausted and Henry was forced to retire.

The judgments of the council were sometimes considered unfair, and were occasionally defied by the states affected.

His Bible was prohibited by proclamation in 1542, while Coverdale himself defied the Six Articles by marrying Elizabeth Macheson, sister-in-law to Dr John MacAlpine.

On the other hand, he came to represent those aspects of Peripateticism most alien to the spirit of Christendom; and the deeply religious Moslem gave his name to the anti-sacerdotal party, to the materialists, sceptics and atheists, who defied or undermined the dominant beliefs of the church.

These simple elementary ideas were eminently capable of development and investigation, and were not only true but the prelude to further truth; while those they superseded defied inquiry by their vagueness and obscurity.

Lower Nubia was one of the crucibles in which several times was formed a mixed nation which defied or actually dominated Egypt.

The northern states declined to fulfil the conditions of the treaties negotiated with the Niger Company or to submit to the abolition of the slave trade, and in 1902 Sokoto and Kano openly defied the British power.

The article was somewhat tongue in cheek in its assessment of paranormal powers but insisted the tips defied coincidence.

So you defied your brother for the little blonde Oracle?

He'd talked Rhyn off the ledge a million times then defied past-Death to protect Katie.

She stepped closer to him as she had in their dream, gazing up into his molten silver eyes.  He'd gone to Hell for Hannah and confronted Death for her.  He'd killed demons to protect her and defied his family to find – and keep – her.

The crowd had defied a night-time curfew to carry out the protest.

The 23-year-old was told she would never have children, but defied docs by having a baby... swiftly followed by triplets!

The economy has defied doomsayers, deciding not to slide into recession.