defeat: meaning and words from its letters
6 letters · 10 letter points · starts with D · ends with T
Meaning of defeat
verb
- transitive
To overcome in battle or contest.
Example: Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
- transitive
To reduce, to nothing, the strength of.
- transitive
To nullify
To prevent (something) from being achieved.
Listed forms: defeats, defeating, defeated, glossary, defeatest.
Source: Wiktionary — defeat.
noun
- countable, uncountable
The act or instance of being defeated, of being overcome or vanquished; a loss.
Example: Licking their wounds after a temporary defeat, they planned their next move.
- countable, uncountable
The act or instance of defeating, of overcoming, vanquishing.
Example: The inscription records her defeat of the country's enemies in a costly war.
- countable, uncountable
Frustration (by prevention of success), stymieing; (law) nullification.
- countable, obsolete, uncountable
Destruction, ruin.
Listed forms: defeats.
Source: Wiktionary — defeat.
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org. Selected senses and forms; quotations omitted. Definition text is CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms by meaning
Words are grouped by sense, so they are not necessarily interchangeable in every context. Search synonyms for defeat.
noun
an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest
noun
the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals
verb
win a victory over
- get the better of
- overcome
verb
thwart the passage of
- kill
- shoot down
- vote down
- vote out
Open English WordNet Team, 2025, derived from Princeton University WordNet; selected synonym groups under CC BY 4.0. Source · OEWN notice · Princeton notice.
Is defeat in our word lists?
| Word list | Status |
|---|---|
| American English | Found |
| British English | Found |
| Extended English | Found |
These are spelling-list matches, not official game validity checks. Check the rules and dictionary used by your game.
Letter-value score of defeat
D(2) + E(1) + F(4) + E(1) + A(1) + T(1) = 10 points.
This is a sum of letter values without board bonuses or word multipliers. A blank tile is worth zero: subtract the value of each letter supplied by a blank. The score does not establish game validity. Full letter-value table.
Anagrams of defeat
0 other standard-list words use exactly these letters, including repeated letters.
No other single-word anagram was found in our standard list.
Shorter words from defeat
37 shorter standard-list words can be made using no letter more often than it occurs in defeat. Showing up to 24, longest first.