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general::
verb ADV. comprehensively, convincingly, decisively, easily, heavily, soundly, totally The English were heavily defeated by the Scots in the battle that followed. The proposed bill was decisively defeated in Parliament. | narrowly Our team was narrowly defeated in the final. | eventually, finally, ultimately PREP. by The motion was defeated by 20 votes to 18., noun ADJ. bitter, catastrophic, complete, comprehensive, crushing, decisive, devastating, disastrous, heavy, humiliating, ignominious, overwhelming, resounding, serious, stunning Their party suffered a heavy defeat in the election. The battle ended in a humiliating defeat. | narrow They lost 4?3 in their second narrow defeat of the week. | consecutive, successive | election, electoral, political | military VERB + DEFEAT accept, admit, concede She is very determined, and will never admit defeat. The prime minister conceded defeat and resigned. | face | go down to, slump to, to suffer The team went down to their fifth consecutive defeat. | reverse A skilful politician can always reverse any defeats. | avoid We just need to avoid defeat in our last two matches. | inflict The army inflicted a heavy defeat on rebel forces. | end in | lead to PREP. ~ against last week's crushing defeat against Manchester United | ~ by their defeat by the French PHRASES defeat at the hands of sb The team suffered defeat at the hands of their oldest rivals.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
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general::
defeat
verbs
suffer a defeat
(= be defeated )
• The party suffered a defeat in the state elections.
inflict a defeat on somebody
(= defeat someone, especially easily )
• The army inflicted a heavy defeat on the English.
admit defeat
• If I left my job, I would be admitting defeat.
accept defeat
• It can be very hard to accept defeat.
concede defeat
(= formally accept that you have lost in a game, election etc )
• His opponent conceded defeat.
face defeat
(= be likely to be defeated )
• In May 1945 Germany faced defeat at the hands of the Allies.
ADJECTIVES/NOUN + defeat
a big/bad defeat
( also a heavy defeat British English ) (= by a large amount )
• The polls were forecasting a heavy defeat for the President.
a crushing/resounding defeat
(= a complete defeat, by a very large amount )
• He quit as Prime Minister following a crushing defeat in regional elections.
a humiliating defeat
(= very embarrassing )
• They are still bitter about their humiliating defeat.
a disastrous defeat
(= very big, and with a very bad result )
• The party suffered a disastrous defeat in the 2006 election.
a narrow defeat
(= by a small amount )
• The goalkeeper was blamed for the team’s narrow defeat.
an election/electoral defeat
• It was their worst general election defeat since 1982.
a military defeat
• The president resigned following a series of military defeats.
a shock defeat
British English (= very unexpected )
• Arsenal are now out of the competition, following their shock defeat by Torquay Town.
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