the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals
"After hours of trying to fix the engine, he felt a deep sense of defeat when it finally stalled again."
The act or instance of being defeated, of being overcome or vanquished; a loss.
"After years of struggling in the tournament, his greatest defeat came when he lost to an unknown player in the final round."
In plain English: Defeat is the state of losing a competition or fight to someone else.
"The team's greatest defeat was losing in the final seconds of the game."
win a victory over
"You must overcome all difficulties"
"defeat your enemies"
"He overcame his shyness"
"He overcame his infirmity"
"Her anger got the better of her and she blew up"
thwart the passage of
"kill a motion"
"he shot down the student's proposal"
To overcome in battle or contest.
"The veteran general finally managed to defeat the invading army after a grueling week of fighting."
In plain English: To defeat someone means to stop them from winning by beating them at their game or task.
"The team worked hard to defeat their opponents in the final match."
Usage: Use the verb defeat to describe winning against an opponent in a game, war, or competition by overcoming them completely. Do not use it for simple losses where no direct confrontation occurred, as that is better expressed with terms like lose or fail.
The word defeat comes from Middle English, where it originally meant "to disfigure." It is formed by combining the verb defeten with the noun defet, which referred to a defect or flaw.