defiance

UK/dɪˈfaɪ(j)əns/

defiance noun: the feeling, or spirit of being defiant.

Noun

defiance (countable and uncountable, plural defiances)

The feeling, or spirit of being defiant.
- But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC
Open or bold resistance to or disregard for authority, opposition, or power; refusing to give up.
- Ambassador Udina: The other species are scared. They've never faced anything like this before and they don't know what to do. They want us to step forward. They believe in humanity because of you.
  Ambassador Udina: Your ruthless pursuit of Saren and the geth, your defiance of the Council -- that's...2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel
- Ainsley: Amid the death and all the destruction: a story of heroism.
  Steve: Thirteen Ukrainian border guards defending a small island in the Black Sea defy an invading Russian warship.
  Will: Todd Piro is here now with the details on the defiance that cost them, ultimately, their lives- Todd.
  Todd...2022 February 25, Todd Piro, 0:03 from the start, in Ukrainian guards tell Russian troops to 'go F yourself' in viral audio, Fox News
A challenging attitude or behaviour; challenge.

Proper noun capitalized: Defiance

Defiance

A small city in Shelby County, Iowa, United States.
An unincorporated community in Perry County, Kentucky, United States.
An unincorporated community in St. Charles County, Missouri, United States.
A former community in Worth County, Missouri.
A city, the county seat of Defiance County, Ohio, United States. Named after Fort Defiance.
An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, United States.

defiance meaning in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada

defiance in Tamil

எதிர்ப்பு, கீழ்ப்படியாமை, குறைவு, பற்றாக்குறை, மீறுகை

defiance in Telugu

defiance: ధిక్కారం dhikkāraṁ

defiance in Malayalam

എതിർപ്പ്, ധിക്കരിക്കൽ, പോർവിളി, ദുഷ്കരമാക്കിത്തീർക്കൽ

defiance in Kannada

ಇದಿರೇಳುಹ, ಒಟ್ಟಿತನ, ಸವಾಲು, ಕೆಣಕುವುದು, ಪಂಥ ಹೂಡಿಕೆ, ಪ್ರತಿಭಟನೆ

Examples of defiance in a sentence

He folded his arms in defiance.
The administration isn’t even pretending that it forced China to pay any special price for its defiance.
At the intersection of femcelcore and heteropessimism is a hard kernel of defiance.

All 35 example sentences with defiance

Forms of defiance

plural	defiances

Origin of defiance

From Middle English defiaunce, from Old French desfiance, from desfier. By surface analysis, defy + -ance.

Words formed from defiance

Phrases with defiance

Words that rhyme with defiance

Questions about defiance

What does defiance mean?: Defiance means the feeling, or spirit of being defiant.
What is defiance in Tamil?: Defiance in Tamil is எதிர்ப்பு, கீழ்ப்படியாமை, குறைவு. See Defiance meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is defiance?: Defiance can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce defiance?: Defiance is pronounced /dɪˈfaɪ(j)əns/ (UK).
What is the plural of defiance?: The plural of defiance is defiances.

Words near defiance in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: defiance (page history and authors); Defiance (page history and authors); defiance (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ధిక్కారం (Telugu) (page history and authors); defiance (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defiance (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-defiance.ogg.

Cite this entry: “defiance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/defiance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.