defy

1. (transitive) To challenge (someone) or brave (a hazard or opposition).Examples: "to defy an enemy; to defy the power of a magistrate; to defy the arguments of an opponent; to defy public opinion"; "I once again / Defie thee to the trial of mortal fight."; ""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.""transitive

2. (transitive) To refuse to obey.Examples: "If you defy your teacher you may end up in detention."; "Before coalition forces arrived, Iraq was ruled by a dictatorship that murdered its own citizens, threatened its neighbors, and defied the world."; "British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far."transitive

3. (transitive, obsolete) To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.Examples: "1603-1625, Beaumont and Fletcher For thee I have defied my constant mistress."; "Dear perfum'd jackets, pennyless breeches; / Dutch flapdragons, healths in urine; / Drabs that keep a man too sure in: / I do defy you all. / Lend me each honest hand, for here I rise / A reclaim'd man, loathing the general vice."obsoletetransitive