defies

present tense third-person singular of defy
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as in dares
to invite (someone) to take part in a contest or to perform a feat after missing the target, she defied her boyfriend to do better

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of defies After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic. Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 2 Sep. 2025 Critics—who include Democrats, civil rights groups and environmentalists—have said detainees at the facility are forced to endure unsafe, unsanitary and inhumane living conditions and that Alligator Alcatraz defies environmental laws. Anna Commander, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025 This goal defies political difference. Blake D. Morant, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025 Musk’s own apparent approach to Zuckerberg in his bid for OpenAI defies nearly a decade of hostility between the two tech founders, beginning in 2016 when a SpaceX rocket explosion destroyed a Facebook satellite on board. Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 22 Aug. 2025 Advocates, lawmakers and many residents have pushed back on that characterization, which defies crime data. Michael Loria, USA Today, 19 Aug. 2025 Based on actual events, drama about Ronald Zúñiga, a young man who defies his father and becomes an international thief. Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 16 Aug. 2025 But weather, of course, defies consistency. Maggie Heyn Richardson, Southern Living, 14 Aug. 2025 This defies the typical drop in performance seen in humans. Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defies
Verb
  • After Knull’s fall, Hela is imprisoned in the An'Hay-Zhidi, where Dizang—Devil of the Eighth City—dares her to atone for her sins.
    Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
  • When the murder of 100,000 people, many of them women and children, is mentioned or denounced, or when someone dares to use terms such as genocide, ethnocide, ethnic cleansing or similar, most people choose to take issue with the characterization, quibbling over semantics.
    Uriel Kon September 2, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • By turning plastic into poetry, the project not only gives voice to community expression but also confronts the urgent issue of waste.
    Jonel Juste, Miami Herald, 4 Sep. 2025
  • As Mars confronts Jupiter, the world is your oyster!
    USA TODAY, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • But Enyedi resists such big words.
    Marta Balaga, Variety, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Empowering risk-takers in an industry that resists change AWSOM is Walton’s third major construction project, and it was completed in two years and almost 50% under its (undisclosed) budget.
    Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 5 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • An energy policy that ignores this will get traction depending on which party is in office but not beyond that.
    Robert G. Eccles, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
  • This perspective ignores the need for people to come to decisions together about truth and reality.
    Sara Giordano, The Conversation, 4 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The Trades as a Leadership Classroom Tradespeople face complex, high stakes challenges every day.
    Dan Ringo, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
  • A student at the center of high-profile Supreme Court challenges to bans on transgender athletes on female sports teams wants the court to drop her case.
    Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Now, a grown-up Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) faces new and familiar frights after her equally goth daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), opens a portal to the Netherworld and reawakens everyone's favorite pinstriped ghost.
    Emy LaCroix, PEOPLE, 8 Sep. 2025
  • The massive compensation offer comes as Tesla faces one of its worst sales streaks, with its stock falling 16% this year, driven by rising competition, government cuts to EV subsidies, and Musk’s polarizing politics.
    Matthew Martin, semafor.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The administration counters that the injunction forces the executive branch to take steps that undermine its own policy, including negotiating with foreign governments over funds the president opposes and sending contradictory signals to Congress.
    Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Kelley is chastised and eventually replaced by Gustave Gilbert (Colin Hanks), a rival psychologist with a different take, one that opposes Kelley’s more humanistic approach in defining the horrors of that time.
    Pete Hammond, Deadline, 7 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Defies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defies. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.

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