de·feat

verb

/dɪˈfiːt/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they defeat	/dɪˈfiːt/ /dɪˈfiːt/
he / she / it defeats	/dɪˈfiːts/ /dɪˈfiːts/
past simple defeated	/dɪˈfiːtɪd/ /dɪˈfiːtɪd/
past participle defeated	/dɪˈfiːtɪd/ /dɪˈfiːtɪd/
-ing form defeating	/dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/ /dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/

to win against somebody in a war, competition, sports game, etc.击败；战胜 synonym beat
- defeat somebody/something He defeated the champion in three sets.他三盘击败了冠军。
- to defeat a rival/an opponent 击败竞争对手/对手
- The goal is to defeat the enemy by whatever means possible.目标是用一切可能的手段打败敌人。
- a defeated army败军
- Garibaldi defeated the Neapolitan army.加里波第击败了那不勒斯军队。
- defeat somebody by something The government was defeated by 200 votes to 83.政府以 83 票对 200 票遭到了挫败。
- Davis defeated Morris by eight points in the semi-final. 戴维斯在半决赛中以八分优势击败莫里斯。
- defeat somebody in something Our team was narrowly defeated in the final.我们队在决赛中以微弱差距惜败。
- It was said that he could not be defeated in battle. 据说他在战斗中是无法被击败的。
Extra Examples
- He said it was impossible to defeat the terrorists militarily.他说军事上打败恐怖分子是不可能的。
- The English were decisively defeated by the rebels in the battle that followed.英格兰人在之后的那场战役中被叛军打得惨败。
- The senator was decisively defeated by his rivals.这位参议员被对手彻底击败。
- She narrowly defeated the rival candidate in the leadership contest.她在领导力竞赛中以微弱优势击败了对手候选人。
Topics War and conflictb2, Sports: other sportsb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by
to stop something from being successful使失败；阻挠；挫败
- defeat something They are united in their determination to defeat global terrorism. 他们团结一致，决心战胜全球恐怖主义。
- The proposed bill was decisively defeated in Parliament.提案在议会中遭断然否决。
- be defeated by something The motion was defeated by 19 votes.这项动议以差额 19 票被否决。
- Writing down your password so you remember it defeats the purpose of having a password.写下密码以便记住，这违背了拥有密码的本意。
- Staying late at the office to discuss shorter working hours rather defeats the object of the exercise!迟迟待在办公室讨论缩短工作时间恰恰是在阻挠这一目标的实现！
Topics Difficulty and failureb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by
defeat somebody (formal) if something defeats you, you cannot understand it使困惑；难住
- The instruction manual completely defeated me.这操作指南把我完全弄糊涂了。
- Question 6 defeated us.第6题难住了我们。
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- comprehensively
- convincingly
- decisively
- …
preposition
- by

Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘undo, destroy, annul’): from Old French desfait ‘undone’, past participle of desfaire, from medieval Latin disfacere ‘undo’.

de·feat

noun

/dɪˈfiːt/

Idioms

[uncountable, countable] failure to win or to be successful失败；战败；挫败
- The party faces defeat in the election.这个党面临选举失败。
- They suffered a narrow defeat in the final.他们在决赛中以微弱差距惜败。
- a heavy/humiliating/crushing defeat大败；耻辱的失败；惨败
- The world champion has only had two defeats in 20 fights.这个世界冠军在 20 场比赛中只败过两场。
- They finally had to admit defeat (= stop trying to be successful).他们最后只得认输。
- to concede/accept defeat承认/接受失败
- defeat by somebody their defeat by the Brazilians他们败给了巴西
- defeat against somebody last week's defeat against Manchester United上周输给曼联
- a punishing defeat at the hands of Iceland in the World Cup 世界杯上惨败于冰岛队
- in defeat He was gracious in defeat, acknowledging his opponent's greater skill.他虽然失败但不失风度，承认对手的技术更胜一筹。
- a series of small victories and defeats一系列的小胜利和小失败
Extra Examples
- A skilful politician can always reverse any defeats.手段高明的政治家总能扭转败局。
- The prime minister conceded defeat and resigned.首相承认失败并辞职。
- The battle ended in a humiliating defeat.这场战役以耻辱的失败告终。
- The team suffered defeat at the hands of their oldest rivals.这个队败在老对手的手下。
- Their party suffered a heavy defeat in the election.他们党在选举中遭受重大挫折。
- The team went down to their fifth consecutive defeat.该队连续第五次失利。
- They lost 4–3 in their second narrow defeat of the week.他们以 3 比 4 的比分在本星期第二次惜败。
- They turned a military defeat into a media victory.他们把军事上的失败转为媒体上的胜利。
- We just need to avoid defeat in our last two games.我们只需在最后两场比赛中避免失利即可。
Topics Difficulty and failureb2, War and conflictb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- complete
- comprehensive
- decisive
- …
verb + defeat
- accept
- admit
- concede
- …
preposition
- defeat against
- defeat by
phrases
- defeat at the hands of somebody
- turn defeat into a victory
[countable, usually singular] the act of winning a victory over somebody/something击败；战胜
- The army inflicted a heavy defeat on rebel forces.军队重挫叛军。
- the defeat of fascism战胜法西斯主义
Extra Examples
- They played a key role in Wellington's defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.他们在惠灵顿击败拿破仑的滑铁卢战役中起了关键作用。
- He almost pulled off a shock defeat of the reigning champion.他差点儿便意外地战胜了那卫冕冠军。
Topics Sports: other sportsb2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- complete
- comprehensive
- decisive
- …
verb + defeat
- accept
- admit
- concede
- …
preposition
- defeat against
- defeat by
phrases
- defeat at the hands of somebody
- turn defeat into a victory

Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘undo, destroy, annul’): from Old French desfait ‘undone’, past participle of desfaire, from medieval Latin disfacere ‘undo’.

Idioms

snatch victory from the jaws of defeat

to win something even though it seemed up until the last moment that you would lose 在最后一刻反败为胜The idiom is often reversed for humorous effect to show that a person or team were expected to win, but then lost at the last moment, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.