DEFY in a Sentence

Learn DEFY from example sentences; some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

60 example sentences for DEFY, such as:

1. I defy you to escape from that.
2. Feed by measure and defy physician.
3. I defy you to prove your accusations.
4. And don't be so ready to defy everybody.
5. At this the challenger with fierce defy.

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 Meanings and Examples of DEFY
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
defy
 v.  renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; provoke to combat or strife
Classic Sentence: (45 in 4 pages)
1  I defy you to escape from that.
Les Misérables 5 By Victor Hugo
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 6: CHAPTER II—JEAN VALJEAN STILL WEARS HIS ARM IN A SLING
2  Yes, love, woman, the kiss forms a circle from which I defy you to escape; and, for my own part, I should be only too happy to re-enter it.
Les Misérables 5 By Victor Hugo
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 6: CHAPTER II—JEAN VALJEAN STILL WEARS HIS ARM IN A SLING
3  We have made a wager--a wager which could not have been foreseen, and of which I defy anyone to divine the true cause.
The Three Musketeers By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In 46 THE BASTION SAINT-GERVAIS
4  Oh," said Milady, raising herself, "I defy you to find any tribunal which pronounced that infamous sentence against me.
The Three Musketeers By Alexandre Dumas
Context  Highlight   In 65 TRIAL
5  At this the challenger with fierce defy.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VIII
6  The ends of his white neckerchief were twisted into a ball about the size of an orange; the variety of shapes into which his countenance was twisted, defy description.
Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XIV
7  Sometimes he will shut up a right of way and defy the parish to make him open it.
The Hound of the Baskervilles By Arthur Conan Doyle
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 8. First Report of Dr. Watson
8  He disavowed nothing: he seemed as if he would defy all things.
Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXVI
9  Young ladies have great penetration in such matters as these; but I think I may defy even your sagacity, to discover the name of your admirer.
Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 57
10  What my aunt saw, or did not see, I defy the science of physiognomy to have made out, without her own consent.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 35. DEPRESSION
11  The staring of Mrs. Markleham during the whole narration, and the shrill, sharp interjections with which she occasionally interrupted it, defy description.
David Copperfield By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER 45. MR. DICK FULFILS MY AUNT'S PREDICTIONS
12  During the first months Ethan alternately burned with the desire to see Mattie defy her and trembled with fear of the result.
Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In III
13  I defy anybody on earth to read our slave-code, as it stands in our law-books, and make anything else of it.
Uncle Tom's Cabin By Harriet Beecher Stowe
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XIX
14  You are strong in your numbers, for you can defy that which would break down the human endurance of one who had to guard alone.
Dracula By Bram Stoker
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXIV
15  And don't be so ready to defy everybody.
Arms and the Man By George Bernard Shaw
Context  Highlight   In ACT III
Example Sentence:
1  Campaigners have said that they are prepared to defy the law in order to achieve their aims.
2  I defy anyone to disprove the defendant's statements.
3  They believe it is essential to defy convention.
4  Feed by measure and defy physician.
5  Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.
6  I defy you to prove your accusations.
7  I dropped the Ann from my name to defy my mother, who had insisted I be called by the refined name of Carole Ann, not plain old Carole.
8  Oh, no! Mason will not defy me; nor, knowing it, will he hurt me--but, not intentionally, he might in a moment, by one careless word, deprive me, if not of life, yet forever of happiness.
9  Audiences cheered as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia made their audacious, death defying leap to freedom, escaping Darth Vader's troops.
10  Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympics on Saturday, capitalizing on its reputation as a “safe pair of hands” and defying concerns about the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
11  A few workers have defied the majority decision and gone into work despite the strike.
12  Hundreds of people today defied the ban on political gatherings.
13  They show she has defied a whiff of scandal and predictions of decline, reflecting a revolution in how the fashion industry is responding to women consumers, say commentators.
14  In his take-away, Teravainen defies the modern method, for he does not fan the club face open.
15  The beauty of the scene defies description.