verb / noun

defeat

dih-FEET/dɪˈfiːt/

To overcome opposition and prevent its success.

The woman defeats her opponent at table tennis and raises her paddle in triumph.

An older woman wins a table-tennis match against a younger man: she raises her paddle in quiet triumph while he acknowledges his defeat across the net.

Etymology

The pieces express 'undoing.' The meaning moved from undoing or destroying to preventing success, and then to overcoming an opponent in a contest.

In context

The Rest Is History22:57

so they that means that they like the Romans are determined to fight on um and as it happens they have a guy on hand who is perfectly qualified to defeat the Romans

How Rome Beat Carthage | The First Punic War

More examples

A lack of funding defeated their plan to expand.
The candidate admits defeat after the votes are counted.
After three straight defeats, the team finally wins.

Forms

defeat · defeats · defeated · defeating

defeatism noun — The attitude that failure is inevitable.

Similar words

beat: Usually means winning against someone in a direct competition.
thwart: Specifically means preventing a plan or effort from succeeding.
loss: Names an unsuccessful outcome rather than the act of overcoming.