Past tense of defeat
regular verb
The past tense of defeat is defeated. The past participle is also defeated.
Forms of defeat
| Base form (V1) | defeat /dɪˈfiːt/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | defeated /dɪˈfiːtəd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | defeated /dɪˈfiːtəd/ |
| Present participle | defeating |
| Third person singular | defeats |
Defeated in a sentence
- Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
- The Japanese defeated the Ming general Tsu Chʻeng-hsün 祖承訓 at Pʻing jang 平壤 in 1592, the first year of Bunroku 文祿 of Japan, and the fighting continued for some years; but at Hideyoshi's death the Japanese troops left Korea.1917, Samuel Couling, “Japanese Relations with China”, in The Encyclopaedia Sinica, Literature House, Ltd., published 1964, →OCLC, page...
- After being defeated in three previous finals, Roger finally tasted triumph at this year's competition.From the entry triumph
- That culture considered it no disgrace to be defeated in honorable combat.From the entry honorable
- She went god mode and effortlessly defeated her opponents, leaving them in awe of her superhuman skills.From the entry god mode
Meaning of defeat
- verb To overcome in battle or contest.
- verb To reduce, to nothing, the strength of.
- verb To nullify.
Questions about the past tense of defeat
- What is the past tense of defeat?
- The past tense of defeat is defeated.
- What is the past participle of defeat?
- The past participle of defeat is defeated.
- Is defeat a regular or irregular verb?
- Defeat is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: defeat (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of defeat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/defeat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.