What's the difference between defeat and downfall?

Defeat


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To resist with success; as, to defeat an assault.
  • (v. t.) To undo; to disfigure; to destroy.
  • (v. t.) To render null and void, as a title; to frustrate, as hope; to deprive, as of an estate.
  • (v. t.) To overcome or vanquish, as an army; to check, disperse, or ruin by victory; to overthrow.
  • (v.) An undoing or annulling; destruction.
  • (v.) Frustration by rendering null and void, or by prevention of success; as, the defeat of a plan or design.
  • (v.) An overthrow, as of an army in battle; loss of a battle; repulse suffered; discomfiture; -- opposed to victory.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This defeat, though, is hardly a good calling card for the main job.
  • (2) To confront this evil – and defeat it, standing together for our values, for our security, for our prosperity.” Merkel gave a strong endorsement of Cameron’s reform strategy, saying that Britain’s demands were “not just understandable, but worthy of support”.
  • (3) He campaigned for a no vote and won handsomely, backed by more than 61%, before performing a striking U-turn on Thursday night, re-tabling the same austerity terms he had campaigned to defeat and which the voters rejected.
  • (4) John Carver witnessed signs of much-needed improvement from the visitors in a purposeful spell either side of the interval but it was not enough to prevent a fifth successive Premier League defeat.
  • (5) Different games, different moments but it is very important to start winning our points at home.” City started their title defence by defeating Newcastle United 2-0.
  • (6) Instead of inevitable defeat there is uncertain cop-out.
  • (7) Long-term: The defeat of Isis is a political shaping exercise – you find moderate Sunni leaders, empower and install them in Syria and Iraq.
  • (8) Clinton lost the presidency and Democrats lost those seats, as Democrats suffered staggering defeats across two branches of government.
  • (9) A foretaste of discontent came when Florian Thauvin, the underachieving £13m winger signed from Marseille last summer , was serenaded with chants of ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt” from away fans during Saturday’s FA Cup defeat at Watford .
  • (10) Hagan’s defeat came as a shock and a heavy blow for the Democratic party in North Carolina, a purple state that now has no Democratic senator or governor for the first time in 30 years.
  • (11) The Iraqi prime minister has fired several senior security force commanders over the defeats in the face of Isis and on Wednesday announced that 59 military officers would be prosecuted for abandoning the city of Mosul.
  • (12) It's almost starting to feel like we're back in the good old days of July 2005, when Paris lost out to London in the battle to stage the 2012 Olympic Games, a defeat immediately interpreted by France as a bitter blow to Gallic ideals of fair play and non-commercialism and yet another undeserved triumph for the underhand, free-market manoeuvrings of perfidious Albion.
  • (13) The Liverpool manager was incensed by Lee Mason's performance at the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day, when a 2-1 defeat cost his team the Premier League leadership and Raheem Sterling had a first half goal disallowed for an incorrect offside call.
  • (14) Following a run which included eight straight draws in the Premier League and a 3-0 defeat at Tottenham last Wednesday, Mubarak had reached the conclusion that Hughes and his coaching staff were not realising the potential of the players City had assembled.
  • (15) Southampton, with injuries and defeats to consider, were left licking their wounds.
  • (16) Three million of us are behind our team!” trumpets La Republica, who hail “the national team's exemplary behaviour so far, both individually and collectively.” Naturally they were saying exactly the same thing after the defeat to Costa Rica.
  • (17) However since the night of our defeat last week I have been subject to the added level of pressure that comes with being a leadership candidate.
  • (18) Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian A journey that started five years ago with a promise to bring Labour together – to avoid the civil strife that traditionally followed election defeat – risks ending where it began: contemplating electoral wilderness.
  • (19) Despite a lack of traditional campaign organization, a mix of big rallies and constant appearances on cable news helped Trump defeat what had been described as the strongest field in Republican history.
  • (20) "The title race is over but that changes nothing as we should do our best from now until the end of the season," the Italian said before explaining why he did not speak to the media after the 2-0 defeat at Everton in City's previous game .

Downfall


Definition:

  • (n.) A sudden fall; a body of things falling.
  • (n.) A sudden descent from rank or state, reputation or happiness; destruction; ruin.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "The Mayans couldn't even predict their own downfall, could they?"
  • (2) The trial, originally expected to be staid, has exposed severe dysfunction within Bo's family and detailed the complicated tangle of allegiances and affairs that led to his downfall .
  • (3) The imposition of a poll tax on the Scots in 1989 contributed to Margaret Thatcher's downfall and all but wiped out Scottish Toryism.
  • (4) Mal Brough has vowed to stare down calls to resign over his role in the downfall of the former speaker Peter Slipper as the Labor party seeks to build pressure on Malcolm Turnbull for backing the special minister of state.
  • (5) Vladimir Putin painted a colourful picture of Russia's protesters on Thursday, describing them as agents of the west, attending useless demonstrations with condoms pinned to their chests as they sought the downfall of the motherland.
  • (6) Martin Kyrle, 79, a former mayor of Eastleigh and an active member of the Liberal Democrat party for 55 years, attributes Huhne's downfall to "a personal flaw.
  • (7) The 2012 rebellion was partly an unintended consequence of Muammar Gaddafi's downfall in Libya.
  • (8) Zhao, who was kept under intense surveillance at his home after his downfall and whose excursions and visitors were vetted, recorded his memoirs in such secrecy that even family members were unaware of his project.
  • (9) 'No,' he said with his usual solemn deliberation, 'it was the downfall of a great people and a great civilisation.'
  • (10) As ruthless as Liverpool were with their finishing, in particular the irrepressible Luis Suárez , who scored twice to take his tally for the season to 22, Stoke were guilty of some calamitous defending and contributed largely to their own downfall.
  • (11) More than 15 million Egyptians have signed a petition calling for the president's downfall, furious at Morsi's unilateralism and impatient at plummeting living standards.
  • (12) It never does | Lenore Taylor Read more Jamie Briggs resigned as the minister for cities and the built environment after “inappropriate” conduct towards a staffer during an official visit to Hong Kong and Mal Brough stood aside as special minister of state pending a police investigation into his alleged role in the downfall of Peter Slipper.
  • (13) Nokia's downfall came about because its Symbian smartphone software was awash with redundancy and complexity.
  • (14) Thatcher secured her position over more than a decade in power through a brutal belief in her own outlook, a belief that became sclerotic, and led to her downfall.
  • (15) Mal Brough faces fresh parliamentary pressure over his role in the downfall of the former speaker Peter Slipper , after his attempt to walk away from a key admission was undermined by 60 Minutes releasing the unedited interview exchange.
  • (16) Macmillan and Thatcher paid with their jobs for being too brutal; Blair's downfall at the hands of Brown's acolytes was, to some extent at least, a consequence of him not being brutal enough.
  • (17) Today Luzhkov named Medvedev's press secretary, Natalia Timakova, and a Kremlin ideologist, Vladislav Surkov, as plotters of his downfall.
  • (18) The downfall of Sepp Blatter and the disgraced Fifa president’s one-time heir apparent, Michel Platini , is all but complete after both were banned from football for eight years by the world governing body’s own ethics committee.
  • (19) An early example of such alteration was the conversion to desert of the rich Tigris and Euphrates valleys through erosion and salt accumulation resulting from faulty irrigation practices that caused the downfall of the great Mesopotamian civilization.
  • (20) When asked if studio Fox were bothered by this he claimed: “They never said anything!” Despite his new project, Emmerich believes that “sequels are the downfall of films”.