different between circumvent vs defeat

English

Alternative forms

• circumvene

Etymology

Latin circum (“about”) + venire (“to come”)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?nt

Verb

circumvent (third-person singular simple present circumvents, present participle circumventing, simple past and past participle circumvented)

1. (transitive) to avoid or get around something; to bypass
2. (transitive) to surround or besiege
3. (transitive) to outwit or outsmart

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??fi?t/
• Rhymes: -i?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English defeten, from Middle English defet (“disfigured”, past participle) and defet (“defect”, noun), see Etymology 2 below.

Verb

defeat (third-person singular simple present defeats, present participle defeating, simple past and past participle defeated)

1. (transitive) To overcome in battle or contest.

   Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

2. (transitive) To reduce, to nothing, the strength of.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes.

   • 1879, Adolphus Ward, Chaucer, in English Men of Letters

     In one instance he defeated his own purpose.

3. (transitive) To nullify
   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England

     The escheators […] defeated the right heir of his succession.

Derived terms

• self-defeating

Synonyms

• vanquish, overcome, beat

Hyponyms

• conquer (defeat and annex); rout, crush, cream (decisive); shutout, zilch (sports, to defeat without permitting any opposing score)

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English defet, from French deffet, desfait, past participle of the verb desfaire (compare modern French défaire), from des- + faire.

Noun

defeat (countable and uncountable, plural defeats)

1. The act or instance of being defeated, of being overcome or vanquished; a loss.

   Licking their wounds after a temporary defeat, they planned their next move.
2. The act or instance of defeating, of overcoming, vanquishing.

   The inscription records her defeat of the country's enemies in a costly war.

3. Frustration (by prevention of success), stymieing; (law) nullification.
   • 1909, The Southern Reporter, page 250:

     ... is subsequently issued to him, in accordance with his perfect equity thus acquired, by a legal fiction which the law creates for the protection, but not for the defeat, of his title.

   • 2008, Gene Porter, A Daughter of the Land, volume 1 (?ISBN), page 17:

     She could see no justice in being forced into a position that promised to end in further humiliation and defeat of her hopes.

4. (obsolete) Destruction, ruin.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, act 4, scene 1:

     and made defeat of her virginity

Antonyms

• victory

Translations

Anagrams

• feated