different between thwart vs defeat

English

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Early Middle English thwert, thwerte, thuart, thurt, thurte, thwart, thwarte, twart, twarte, twhart, twhert, twort, þuert, þwerrt, þwert, þwerte, ðwert (“crosswise, transverse; counter, opposing; contrary, obstinate”), borrowed from Old Norse þvert (“across, athwart”), originally the neuter form of þverr (“across, transverse”), from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz (“cross; adverse”) (altered or influenced by Proto-Germanic *þweran? (“to stir; to swirl; to turn”)), from Proto-Germanic *þerh-, probably from Proto-Indo-European *terk?- (“to spin; to turn”).

The English adjective is cognate with Danish tvær (“sullen, sulky”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (þwairs, “angry”), Middle Dutch dwers, dwars (modern Dutch dwars (“crosswise, transverse; slantwise, askew; stubbornly disobedient”)), Norwegian tvert, tvært, Old Frisian þweres, dwers (Saterland Frisian twars, West Frisian dwers, dwerz (“across, to the other side of; beyond”)), Middle Low German dwers, dwars (Low German dwars (“contrary; cross-grained”)), Old English þweorh (“transverse; perverse; angry, cross”), Old High German twer (Middle High German twer, quer, modern German quer (“crosswise; cross”)), Swedish tvär (“across, transverse; of a curve: sharp; immediate, sudden; grumpy, stubborn”). It is related to queer.

The adverb is derived from Middle English thwert, ywerte (“crosswise; across the grain”); the Middle English Dictionary suggests the adverb was derived from the adjective, while the Oxford English Dictionary notes that the adverb is attested earlier than the adjective.

The verb is derived from Middle English thwerten, thwert, thwarten, þwerten (“to lie across; to oppose, to thwart”), and further from the adverb and perhaps also the adjective.

Noun sense 1 (“a seat across a boat on which a rower may sit”) may be derived from the adverb or adjective, from the position of the seat across the length of the boat, while noun sense 3 (“(rare) an act of thwarting”) is derived from the verb. Compare Middle English thwert (“in in thwert: crosswise”), from the adjective.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w??t/
• (General American) enPR: thwôrt, IPA^(key): /?w?(?)?t/
• Rhymes: -??(r)t

Adjective

thwart (comparative more thwart, superlative most thwart)

1. Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.
2. (figuratively, dated) Of people: having a tendency to oppose; obstinate, perverse, stubborn.

   Synonyms: cross-grained, froward; see also Thesaurus:obstinate
3. (figuratively, dated) Of situations or things: adverse, unfavourable, unlucky.

   Synonyms: unpropitious, untoward; see also Thesaurus:unlucky

Derived terms

• athwart
• athwartship, athwartships

Related terms

• overthwart
• overthwartly
• overthwartness

Translations

Adverb

thwart (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Across the direction of travel or length of; athwart, crosswise, obliquely, transversely.

Translations

Preposition

thwart

1. (archaic or poetic) Across, athwart.

Verb

thwart (third-person singular simple present thwarts, present participle thwarting, simple past and past participle thwarted)

1. (transitive) To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.

   Synonyms: balk, foil, spoil

   Antonym: promote
2. (transitive, obsolete) To place (something) across (another thing); to position crosswise.
3. (transitive, also figuratively, obsolete) To hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hinder

4. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To move (something) across or counter to; to cross.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• thwarter
• thwartsome

Translations

Noun

thwart (plural thwarts)

1. (nautical) A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.

   Synonyms: thaught, thawt, (Britain, dialectal) thoft
2. (nautical) A brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (“breadth”) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.
3. (rare) An act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle.

Translations

References

Further reading

• thwart on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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