defiant
Syllables: de·fi·antUK/dɪˈfaɪ(j)ənt//dɪˈfaɪənt/
defiant adjective: defying.
Adjective
defiant (comparative more defiant, superlative most defiant)
- Defying.
- She paused and took a defiant breath. ‘If you don't believe me, I can't help it. But I'm not a liar.’ ¶ ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough![…]What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit...1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 15, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- Boldly resisting opposition.
- But the demonstrators remained defiant, pouring into the streets by the thousands and venting their anger over political corruption, the high cost of living and huge public spending for the World Cup and the Olympics.2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in The New York Times, retrieved 21 Jun 2013
- Gunshots rang out in the capital Abuja and also in the neighboring Niger state as police lobbed tear gas to disperse defiant protesters. In Niger, at least six people are now feared dead, local media reported.2024 August 1, Nimi Princewill and Stephanie Busari, “Violence erupts as Nigerians protest hunger across the nation”, in CNN
Noun
defiant (plural defiants)
- One who defies opposition.
- Countries condemning South Africa, Portugal and Rhodesia still find it necessary to trade with these defiants against so-called world opinion.1966, British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service, Summary of World Broadcasts: Non-Arab Africa (issues 2262-2303)
- Damn the obedients and hail the defiants if you will; the experiment does not motivate confidence about how particular subjects would behave in markedly dissimilar situations.John Michael Doris, Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior (page 48)
defiant meaning in Urdu, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada
defiant in Urdu
- سرکشی
defiant in Telugu
- ధిక్కరించేవాడు
defiant in Malayalam
- എതിർപറയുന്ന, ധിക്കാരമുളള, പോരിനു വിളിക്കുന്ന, അനാദരമായ
defiant in Kannada
- ಪ್ರತಿಭಟಿಸುವ, ತಿರಸ್ಕಾರ ಪೂರ್ವಕ, ಅವಿಧೇಯತೆ ತೋರುವ, ಉದ್ಧಟ
Examples of defiant in a sentence
- But it has the same punchy energy, the same defiant pessimism, and there’s nothing around like it.
- He and his two best friends, Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) and Jib (Tony Revolori), are defiant counterstereotypes.
- Sarkozy gave a defiant speech, going on the offensive and betraying no hint of having been beaten.
Synonyms of defiant
Antonyms
Forms of defiant
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more defiant |
| superlative | most defiant |
| Noun | |
| plural | defiants |
Origin of defiant
Borrowed from French défiant, from the verb défier. Doublet of diffident. By surface analysis, def(i) + -ant.
Words formed from defiant
Phrases with defiant
Words that rhyme with defiant
Questions about defiant
- What does defiant mean?
- Defiant means defying.
- What is defiant in Urdu?
- Defiant in Urdu is سرکشی. See Defiant meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is defiant?
- Defiant can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce defiant?
- Defiant is pronounced /dɪˈfaɪ(j)ənt/ (UK).
Words near defiant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: defiant (page history and authors); defiant (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); defiant (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); defiant (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); defiant (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-defiant.ogg.
Cite this entry: “defiant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/defiant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.