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Defy vs Pique - What's the difference?

defy | pique | Related terms |

Defy is a related term of pique.


As nouns the difference between defy and pique

is that defy is (obsolete) a challenge while pique is a kind of ribbed or corded fabric.

As a verb defy

is to renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.

defy

English

Noun

(defies)
  • (obsolete) A challenge.
  • (Dryden)

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.
  • * 1603-1625 , (Beaumont and Fletcher)
  • For thee I have defied my constant mistress.
  • To challenge (someone) to do something difficult.
  • * 1671 , (John Milton), (Samson Agonistes)
  • I once again / Defie thee to the trial of mortal fight.
  • * 1900 , Edith King Hall, Adventures in Toyland Chapter 6
  • *:"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."
  • To refuse to obey.
  • * 2005 , , Presidential Radio Address - 19 March 2005
  • *:Before coalition forces arrived, Iraq was ruled by a dictatorship that murdered its own citizens, threatened its neighbors, and defied the world.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Lexington
  • , title= Keeping the mighty honest , passage=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.}}
  • To not conform to or follow a pattern or certain set of rules.
  • * 1955 , Anonymous, The Urantia Book Paper 41
  • *:By tossing this nineteenth electron back and forth between its own orbit and that of its lost companion more than twenty-five thousand times a second, a mutilated stone atom is able partially to defy gravity and thus successfully to ride the emerging streams of light and energy, the sunbeams, to liberty and adventure.
  • * 2013 , Jeré Longman in the New York Times, W.N.B.A. Hopes Griner Can Change Perceptions, as Well as Game Itself
  • *:“To be determined,” Kane said, “is whether Griner and her towering skill and engaging personality will defy the odds and attract corporate sponsors as part of widespread public acceptance four decades after passage of the gender-equity legislation known as Title IX.”
  • Derived terms

    * death-defying

    Anagrams

    *

    pique

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) .

    Noun

  • A feeling of enmity between two entities; ill-feeling, animosity; a transient feeling of wounded pride.
  • * Dr. H. More
  • Men take up piques and displeasures.
  • * De Quincey
  • Wars had arisen upon a personal pique .
  • A feeling of irritation or resentment, awakened by a social slight or injury; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little thought or consideration.
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 7:
  • This defiance was not a fit of pique , but a matter of principle.
  • * Sweet Smell of Success (1957) screenplay by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, starring Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker who says:
  • You think this is a personal thing with me? Are you telling me I think of this in terms of a personal pique ?
  • (obsolete) Keenly felt desire; a longing.
  • * Hudibras
  • Though it have the pique , and long, / 'Tis still for something in the wrong.

    Verb

    (piqu)
  • To wound the pride of; to sting; to nettle; to irritate; to fret; to excite to anger.
  • * 1913 ,
  • She treated him indulgently, as if he were a child. He thought he did not mind. But deep below the surface it piqued him.
  • * Byron
  • Pique her and soothe in turn.
  • (reflexive) To take pride in; to pride oneself on.
  • * John Locke
  • Men pique themselves upon their skill.
  • To excite (someone) to action by causing resentment or jealousy; to stimulate (a feeling, emotion); to offend by slighting.
  • I believe this will pique your interest.
    (Prior)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) pic.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) pique, from Central (etyl) piki.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A chigger or jigger, Tunga penetrans .
  • Etymology 4

    From (etyl)

    Noun

  • A durable ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk.
  • References

    Anagrams

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