| / English Dictionary |
DEFIANT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Boldly resisting authority or an opposing force
Example:
a defiant attitude
Synonyms:
defiant; noncompliant
Classified under:
Similar:
insubordinate; resistant; resistive (disposed to or engaged in defiance of established authority)
obstreperous (noisily and stubbornly defiant)
recalcitrant (marked by stubborn resistance to authority)
Also:
difficult; unmanageable (hard to control)
disobedient (not obeying or complying with commands of those in authority)
insubordinate (not submissive to authority)
intractable (not tractable; difficult to manage or mold)
unwilling (not disposed or inclined toward)
Antonym:
compliant (inclined to comply)
Derivation:
defiance (a defiant act)
defiance (intentionally contemptuous behavior or attitude)
defiance (a hostile challenge)
defy (resist or confront with resistance)
Context examples:
She was a slender, dark girl, with black, defiant eyes.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
It was the defiant cry of a mighty spirit.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
But there was life, abroad in the land and defiant.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
And yet, in spite of all these disadvantages, there was a certain nobility in the woman’s bearing—a gallantry in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which compelled something of respect and admiration.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There was a defiant manner about this young man, and particularly about the way in which he chewed straw as he spoke to me, that I did not much like; as the bargain was made, however, I took him upstairs to the room I was leaving, and we brought the box down, and put it on his cart.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Defiant, indomitable, even harsh to excess, they at the same time aroused pity.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
No matter how terribly he was beaten, he had always another growl; and when Beauty Smith gave up and withdrew, the defiant growl followed after him, or White Fang sprang at the bars of the cage bellowing his hatred.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Mr. Micawber, supremely defiant of him and his extended finger, and making a great deal of his chest until he had slunk out at the door, then addressed himself to me, and proffered me the satisfaction of witnessing the re-establishment of mutual confidence between himself and Mrs. Micawber.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Ranged side by side with the bold, defiant eyes of the girl before him, he saw Ruth's clear, luminous eyes, like a saint's, gazing at him out of unplumbed depths of purity.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
An' you're the only man in the world that can, she added with a defiant flash.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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