defie

Verb

defy (third-person singular simple present defies, present participle defying, simple past and past participle defied)

1. (transitive) To challenge (someone) or brave (a hazard or opposition).
   • to defy an enemy; to defy the power of a magistrate; to defy the arguments of an opponent; to defy public opinion
2. (transitive) To refuse to obey.
   • If you defy your teacher you may end up in detention.
3. To not conform to or follow a pattern, set of rules or expectations.
   • By tossing this nineteenth electron back and forth between its own orbit and that of its lost companion more than twenty-five thousand times a second, a mutilated stone atom is able partially to defy gravity and thus successfully to ride the emerging streams of light and energy, the sunbeams, to...1955, anonymous author, The Urantia Book, Paper 41
4. (obsolete, transitive) To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.
   • For thee I have defied my constant mistress.1603-1625, Beaumont and Fletcher

See all 5 meanings of defy