Definition of "defy" []

• To oppose or resist with boldness and assurance: defied the blockade by sailing straight through it. (verb-transitive)
• To refuse to submit to or cooperate with: defied the court order by leaving the country. (verb-transitive)
• To be unaffected by; resist or withstand: "So the plague defied all medicines” ( Daniel Defoe). (verb-transitive)
• To challenge or dare (someone) to do something: She defied her accusers to prove their charges. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Regardless of party affiliation or politics, the attacks on Palin defy everything that this country is suppose to be about."
• "Monotremes defy the English word mammal, which implies breasts, or at least nipples."
• "Kichwapi colleague Enrique Conejo said some terms defy easy Quechua translation: "The word inflation is a headache.""