defiantly

adverb

de·​fi·​ant·​ly di-ˈfī-ənt-lē 

dē-

: in a defiant manner : in a way that is full of or shows a disposition to challenge, resist, or fight

She spoke out defiantly against the proposed law.

As his empire crumbled amid the … scandal, he defiantly refused a graceful exit.

—Jonathan Alter

Though restrained, the women do not lack independence, and they wag their tongues as defiantly as ever.

—Jason Farago

Examples of defiantly in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Its radical glamour felt defiantly alive, insisting on visibility, pleasure, and self-invention as acts of cultural resistance. —Thomas Rom, ARTnews.com, 8 June 2026

Tom Sturridge, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and newcomer Luther Ford co-star in this elegy defiantly tethered to life. —David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 22 May 2026

The film’s images find a saturated romanticism in the sunset hues and midnight blues of the surrounding, seemingly infinite and defiantly waterless landscape, and thus an apt visual language for the big, inchoate emotions that our heroine feels but can’t always wrangle or articulate. —Guy Lodge, Variety, 20 May 2026

There are all these amazing places that are defiantly screening movies. —Marah Eakin, Vulture, 20 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1847, in the meaning defined above