Word Meanings - DEFY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

fidelity, to dissolve the bond of allegiance, as between the vassal and his lord; hence, to challenge, defy; fr. L. dis- + fides faith. 1. To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.

Additional info about word: DEFY

fidelity, to dissolve the bond of allegiance, as between the vassal and his lord; hence, to challenge, defy; fr. L. dis- + fides faith. 1. To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. I defy the surety and the bond. Chaucer. For thee I have defied my constant mistress. Beau. & Fl. 2. To provoke to combat or strife; to call out to combat; to challenge; to dare; to brave; to set at defiance; to treat with contempt; as, to defy an enemy; to defy the power of a magistrate; to defy the arguments of an opponent; to defy public opinion. I once again Defy thee to the trial of mortal fight. Milton. I defy the enemies of our constitution to show the contrary. Burke.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of DEFY)

• Asperse
• Slander
• calumniate
• bespatter
• befoul
• defy
• attack
• defame
• vilify
• traduce
• scandalize
• malign
• detract from
• blacken
• tarnish
• backbite
• Challenge Defy
• summon
• dare
• question
• investigate
• brave
• canvass
• Dare
• Venture
• face
• hazard
• risk
• challenge

Possible antonyms: (opposite words of DEFY)

• Pretermit
• allow
• ignore
• disregard
• admit
• pass
• misexamine
• misinvestigate
• Pass
• grant
• concede
• Dictate
• state
• assert
• pronounce
• enunciate
• endorse
• affirm

Related words: (words related to DEFY)

• DISREGARDFULLY
  Negligently; heedlessly.
• STATESMANLIKE
  Having the manner or wisdom of statesmen; becoming a statesman.
• MALIGNITY
  1. The state or quality of being malignant; disposition to do evil; virulent enmity; malignancy; malice; spite. 2. Virulence; deadly quality. His physicians discerned an invincible malignity in his disease. Hayward. 3. Extreme evilness of nature
• MALIGNANT
  Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria. Malignant pustule , a very contagious disease, transmitted to man from animals, characterized by the formation, at the point of reception of the virus, of
• HAZARDIZE
  A hazardous attempt or situation; hazard. Herself had run into that hazardize. Spenser.
• ADMITTER
  One who admits.
• TRADUCENT
  Slanderous. Entick.
• DEFAMER
  One who defames; a slanderer; a detractor; a calumniator.
• STATEHOOD
  The condition of being a State; as, a territory seeking Statehood.
• ENDORSER
  See INDORSER
• AFFIRMATIVELY
  In an affirmative manner; on the affirmative side of a question; in the affirmative; -- opposed to negatively.
• BLACKEN
  Etym: 1. To make or render black. While the long funerals blacken all the way. Pope 2. To make dark; to darken; to cloud. "Blackened the whole heavens." South. 3. To defame; to sully, as reputation; to make infamous; as, vice blackens
• ASSERT
  self, claim, maintain; ad + serere to join or bind together. See 1. To affirm; to declare with assurance, or plainly and strongly; to state positively; to aver; to asseverate. Nothing is more shameful . . . than to assert anything to
• SLANDEROUS
  1. Given or disposed to slander; uttering slander. "Slanderous tongue." Shak. 2. Embodying or containing slander; calumnious; as, slanderous words, speeches, or reports. -- Slan"der*ous*ly, adv. -- Slan"der*ous*ness, n.
• VENTURESOME
  Inclined to venture; not loth to run risk or danger; venturous; bold; daring; adventurous; as, a venturesome boy or act. -- Ven"ture*some*ly, adv. -- Ven"ture*some*ness, n.
• TRADUCEMENT
  The act of traducing; misrepresentation; ill-founded censure; defamation; calumny. Shak.
• ALLOWEDLY
  By allowance; admittedly. Shenstone.
• DETRACTIVE
  1. Tending to detractor draw. 2. Tending to lower in estimation; depreciative.
• ASSERTORY
  Affirming; maintaining. Arguments . . . assertory, not probatory. Jer. Taylor. An assertory, not a promissory, declaration. Bentham. A proposition is assertory, when it enounces what is known as actual. Sir W. Hamilton.
• ALLOW
  allocare to admit as proved, to place, use; confused with OF. aloer, fr. L. allaudare to extol; ad + laudare to praise. See Local, and cf. 1. To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction. Ye allow the deeds of your fathers. Luke xi. 48. We commend
• DISVENTURE
  A disadventure. Shelton.
• CREBRICOSTATE
  Marked with closely set ribs or ridges.
• DENUNCIATE
  To denounce; to condemn publicly or solemnly. To denunciate this new work. Burke.
• CALLOW
  1. Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged. An in the leafy summit, spied a nest, Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed. Dryden. 2. Immature; boyish; "green"; as, a callow youth. I perceive by this, thou art but a callow maid. Old Play .
• HALLOW
  To make holy; to set apart for holy or religious use; to consecrate; to treat or keep as sacred; to reverence. "Hallowed be thy name." Matt. vi. 9. Hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein. Jer. xvii. 24. His secret altar touched with hallowed
• SAGEBRUSH STATE
  Nevada; -- a nickname.
• THRYFALLOW
  To plow for the third time in summer; to trifallow. Tusser.
• OLD LINE STATE
  Maryland; a nickname, alluding to the fact that its northern boundary in Mason and Dixon's line.
• ENSTATE
  See INSTATE
• SALLOWISH
  Somewhat sallow. Dickens.