DE FIANCE

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noun

a daring or bold resistance to authority or to any opposing force.

open disregard; contempt (often followed by of ): defiance of danger; His refusal amounted to defiance.

a challenge to meet in combat or in a contest.

Idioms

bid defiance to, to offer resistance; defy.

in defiance of, in spite of; notwithstanding: There was a splendid audience in defiance of the rainstorm.

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an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

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Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French, equivalent to defi(er) to defy + -ance -ance

Related forms

non·de·fi·ance, noun

pre·de·fi·ance, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a city in NW Ohio.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary

defiance (dɪˈfaɪəns)

—n
1.	open or bold resistance to or disregard for authority, opposition, or power
2.	a challenging attitude or behaviour; challenge

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

defiance

c.1300, from O.Fr. defiance "challenge," from defiant, prp. of defier (see defy).

Matching Quote

"In France, and at the most important period of our history, Catherine de' Medici has suffered more from popular error than any other woman, unless it be Brunehaut or Frédégonde; while Marie de' Medici, whose every action was prejudicial to France, has escaped the disgrace that should cover her name.... Catherine de' Medici ... saved the throne of France, she maintained [the] Royal authority under circumstances to which more than one great prince would have succumbed. Face to face with such leaders of the factions and ambitions of the houses of Guise and of Bourbon as the two Cardinals de Lorraine and the two "Balafrès," the two Princes de Condé, Queen Jeanne d'Albret, Henri IV, the Connétable de Montmorency, Calvin, the Colignys and Théodore de Bèze, she was forced to put forth the rarest fine qualities, the most essential gifts of statesmanship, under the fire of the Calvinist press."

-Honoré De Balzac

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DE FIANCE

de·fi·ance

De·fi·ance