different between contest vs defy

English

Etymology

From French contester, from Old French, from Latin contestor (“to call to witness”).

Pronunciation

Noun

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?n.t?st/
• (US) enPR: k?n't?st, IPA^(key): /?k?n.t?st/
• Rhymes: -?nt?st

Verb

• (UK, US) enPR: k?nt?st', IPA^(key): /k?n?t?st/
• Rhymes: -?st

Noun

contest (countable and uncountable, plural contests)

1. (uncountable) Controversy; debate.

   Synonyms: controversy, debate, discussion

2. (uncountable) Struggle for superiority; combat.

   Synonyms: battle, combat, fight

3. (countable) A competition.

   Synonyms: competition, pageant

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

contest (third-person singular simple present contests, present participle contesting, simple past and past participle contested)

1. (intransitive) To contend.

   Synonyms: compete, contend, go in for

   • 1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth

     As for the difficulty or obscurity of an argument, that does but add to the pleasure.of contesting with it when there are hopes of victory

2. (transitive) To call into question; to oppose.

   Synonyms: call into question, oppose

   Antonym: support

   • 1848, John Daniel Morell, Historical and Critical View of the Speculative Philosophy of Europe in the Nineteenth Century

     Few philosophical aphorisms have been more frequently repeated, few more contested than this.

3. (transitive) To strive earnestly to hold or maintain; to struggle to defend.

4. (law) To make a subject of litigation; to defend, as a suit; to dispute or resist, as a claim, by course of law.

   Synonym: controvert

Translations

Anagrams

• Consett, Cottens

English

Etymology

From Old French desfier, from Vulgar Latin *disfidare (“renounce one's faith”), from Latin dis- (“away”) + fidus (“faithful”). Meaning shifted in the 14th century from "be disloyal" to "challenge". Contrast confide, fidelity, faith.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??fa?/
• Rhymes: -a?

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).
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     I once again / Defie thee to the trial of mortal fight.

   • 1900, Edith King Hall, Adventures in Toyland Chapter 6

     "So you actually think yours is good-looking?" sneered the Baker. "Why, I could make a better-looking one out of a piece of dough."

     "I defy you to," the Hansom-driver replied. "A face like mine is not easily copied. Nor am I the only person of that opinion. All the ladies think that I am beautiful. And of course I go by what they think."

2. (transitive) To refuse to obey.
   • 2005, George W. Bush, Presidential Radio Address - 19 March 2005

     Before coalition forces arrived, Iraq was ruled by a dictatorship that murdered its own citizens, threatened its neighbors, and defied the world.
3. To not conform to or follow a pattern, set of rules or expectations.
   • 1955, Anonymous, The Urantia Book Paper 41

     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 liberty and adventure.

   • 2013, Jeré Longman in the New York Times, W.N.B.A. Hopes Griner Can Change Perceptions, as Well as Game Itself

     “To be determined,” Kane said, “is whether Griner and her towering skill and engaging personality will defy the odds and attract corporate sponsors as part of widespread public acceptance four decades after passage of the gender-equity legislation known as Title IX.”

4. (transitive, obsolete) To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.
   • 1603-1625, Beaumont and Fletcher

     For thee I have defied my constant mistress.

Derived terms

• death-defying

Related terms

• defiance
• defiant

Translations

Noun

defy (plural defies)

1. (obsolete) A challenge.

   • And, safe intrench'd within, her foes without defies

Translations

Anagrams

• yfed