Defeat vs Discomfit - What's the difference?
defeat | discomfit |
To overcome in battle or contest.
To reduce, to nothing, the strength of.
* Tillotson
* A. W. Ward
To nullify
* Hallam
The act of defeating or being defeated.
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=May 13
, author=Alistair Magowan
, title=Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd
, work=BBC Sport
(archaic) To defeat completely; to rout.
* 1611 , Bible: King James Version , (w) 17:13,
* (Edmund Spenser)
To defeat the plans or hopes of; to frustrate.
* 1886 , (Andrew Lang) The Mark Of Cain , chapter 10,
(proscribed) To embarrass greatly; to confuse; to perplex; to disconcert.
* 1853 , , Villette , chapter 20,
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}
As verbs the difference between defeat and discomfit
is that defeat is to overcome in battle or contest while discomfit is (archaic) to defeat completely; to rout.As a noun defeat
is the act of defeating or being defeated.As a adjective discomfit is
(obsolete) discomfited; overthrown.defeat
English
Verb
(en verb)- Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
- He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes.
- In one instance he defeated his own purpose.
- The escheators defeated the right heir of his succession.
Synonyms
(To overcome in contest) * beat * conquer * overthrow * rout * vanquishNoun
(en noun)citation, page= , passage=Two defeats in five games coming into this contest, and a draw with Everton, ultimately cost Sir Alex Ferguson's side in what became the most extraordinary finale to the league championship since Arsenal beat Liverpool at Anfield in 1989.}}
discomfit
English
Verb
(en verb)- And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
- And his proud foes discomfit in victorious field.
- In these disguises, Maitland argued, he would certainly avoid recognition, and so discomfit any mischief planned by the enemies of Margaret.
- She is a pretty, silly girl: but are you apprehensive that her titter will discomfit the old lady?
Usage notes
While widely used to mean “to embarrass, to disconcert”, prescriptive usage considers this a mistake (confusion with discomfort), and restrict discomfit to meaning “to defeat”.“Discomfit zone]”, January 4, 2008, [http://www.grammarphobia.com/ Grammarphobia