de‧feat 1 W3 / dɪfit / 名词 [可数和不可数名词] #

1 failure to win or succeed

defeat in

The socialist party suffered a crushing defeat in the elections.

She was a woman who hated to admit defeat.

2 victory over someone or something

defeat of

The defeat of the army was followed by the establishment of constitutional government.

COLLOCATIONS

动词

suffer a defeat (= be defeated ) The party suffered a defeat in the state elections.

inflict a defeat on somebody (= defeat someone, especially easily ) The army inflicted a heavy defeat on the English.

admit defeat If I left my job, I would be admitting defeat.

accept defeat It can be very hard to accept defeat.

concede defeat (= formally accept that you have lost in a game, election etc ) His opponent conceded defeat.

face defeat (= be likely to be defeated ) In May 1945 Germany faced defeat at the hands of the Allies.

ADJECTIVES/NOUN + defeat

a big/bad defeat ( also a heavy defeat British English ) (= by a large amount ) The polls were forecasting a heavy defeat for the President.

a crushing/resounding defeat (= a complete defeat, by a very large amount ) He quit as Prime Minister following a crushing defeat in regional elections.

a humiliating defeat (= very embarrassing ) They are still bitter about their humiliating defeat.

a disastrous defeat (= very big, and with a very bad result ) The party suffered a disastrous defeat in the 2006 election.

a narrow defeat (= by a small amount ) The goalkeeper was blamed for the team’s narrow defeat.

an election/electoral defeat It was their worst general election defeat since 1982.

a military defeat The president resigned following a series of military defeats.

a shock defeat British English (= very unexpected ) Arsenal are now out of the competition, following their shock defeat by Torquay Town.

defeat W3 verb [及物动词] #

1 to win a victory over someone in a war, competition, game etc SYN beat :
They hoped to defeat the enemy at sea. defeat somebody by something We were defeated by 3 goals to 2.

Register In everyday English, people usually say beat rather than defeat when talking about sport, games, or elections:
We were beaten by 3 goals to 2. 2 if something defeats you, you cannot understand it and therefore cannot answer or deal with it SYN beat :
It was the last question on the paper that defeated me. 3 to make something fail defeat the object/purpose (of the exercise) Don’t let your arms relax as that would defeat the object of the exercise.

THESAURUS

beat to get more points, votes etc than someone. Beat is used especially in spoken English : We should have beaten them easily. | I always beat my brother at tennis. defeat to beat someone. Defeat is more formal than beat and is used especially in writing : England were defeated by 2 goals to 1. | Bush defeated Kerry in the election. trounce / traʊns / to defeat someone completely in a game : They were trounced 20–0 by Kuwait. thrash British English informal , cream American English informal to beat someone very easily in a game : Of course, they totally creamed the other team. | I hope we thrash them! wipe the floor with somebody informal to beat someone completely in a game or argument : She wiped the floor with her opponent in the debate. | They won a £1,000 prize after wiping the floor with the opposition in a bowling competition.