different between defy vs interpose

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

English

Etymology

From Middle French interposer, influenced by poser (“to place, put”), from Latin interp?n?, from inter (“between”) + p?n? (“to place, put”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??n.t??p??z/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??n.t??po?z/
• Rhymes: -??z
• Hyphenation: in?ter?pose

Verb

interpose (third-person singular simple present interposes, present participle interposing, simple past and past participle interposed)

1. (transitive) To insert something (or oneself) between other things.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar^[1], Act II, scene i,

     What watchful cares do interpose themselves

     Betwixt your eyes and night?

   • 1785, William Cowper, The Task^[2], book II, Philadelphia, Pa.: Thomas Dobson, 1787, page 30:

     Lands intersected by a narrow frith

     Abhor each other. Mountains interposed

     Make enemies of nations who had else

     Like kindred drops been mingled into one.

2. (transitive) To interrupt a conversation by introducing a different subject or making a comment.
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost^[3], book XII, lines 1-5:

     As one who in his journey bates at Noone,

     Though bent on speed, so her the Archangel paused

     Betwixt the world destroyed and world restored,

     If Adam aught perhaps might interpose;

     Then with transition sweet new Speech resumes.

3. (transitive) To offer (one's help or services).
4. (intransitive) To be inserted between parts or things; to come between.
   • 1782, William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: J. Johnson:

     Suppose, unlook’d for in a scene so rude,

     Long hid by interposing hill or wood,

     Some mansion neat and elegantly dress’d,

     By some kind hospitable heart possess’d

     Offer him warmth, security and rest;

5. (intransitive) To intervene in a dispute, or in a conversation.

Synonyms

• (To insert something (or oneself) between other things): insert
• (To interrupt a conversation by introducing a different subject or making a comment): interrupt

Translations

Anagrams

• entropies, isentrope, tropeines

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: interposent, interposes

Verb

interpose

1. first-person singular present indicative of interposer
2. third-person singular present indicative of interposer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of interposer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of interposer
5. second-person singular imperative of interposer

Italian

Verb

interpose

1. third-person singular past historic of interporre

Anagrams

• inesperto
• peroniste
• riponeste