to refuse to obey or show respect for sb in authority, a law, a rule, etc. 违抗；反抗；蔑视
I wouldn’t have dared to defy my teachers.我可不敢不听老师的话。
Hundreds of people today defied the ban on political gatherings.今天有数百人违抗禁止政治集会的规定。
~ belief, explanation, description, etc.to be impossible or almost impossible to believe, explain, describe, etc. 不可能，无法（相信、解释、描绘等）
a political move that defies explanation
无法解释的政治举动
The beauty of the scene defies description.
景色之美简直难以描绘。
~ sth to successfully resist sth to a very unusual degree 经受住；顶住；抗住
The baby boy defied all the odds and survived (= stayed alive when it seemed certain that he would die).
这名男婴九死一生活了下来。