What's the difference between defy and oppose?

Defy


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce.
  • (v. t.) To provoke to combat or strife; to call out to combat; to challenge; to dare; to brave; to set at defiance; to treat with contempt; as, to defy an enemy; to defy the power of a magistrate; to defy the arguments of an opponent; to defy public opinion.
  • (n.) A challenge.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) For his lone, perilous journey that defied the US occupation authorities, Burchett was pilloried, not least by his embedded colleagues.
  • (2) "We have Revolutionary Guards who defied orders, though they were severely punished, expelled from the force and taken to prison," he says.
  • (3) He said his party was determined to go ahead with the poll, even if it meant defying Spain's constitutional court, which Rull dismissed as biased.
  • (4) When several of its semi-autonomous cars were caught running red lights, the state ordered their removal from the road – an order Uber openly defied , blaming the traffic light violations on “human error” and suspending the people monitoring the cars.
  • (5) Speaker Paul Ryan and majority leader Kevin McCarthy, the two top House Republicans, had argued in Monday’s meeting – held with no prior notice – against making the unilateral ethics change, calling for a bipartisan approach at a later date, but rank-and-file Republicans defied their leadership.
  • (6) Heidi Allen, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, abstained in last week’s vote but said she and others would defy the party whip if concessions were not offered.
  • (7) Barack Obama has defied a Republican Congress to move ahead on his climate agenda on Wednesday, cracking down on methane emissions from America’s oil and natural gas boom.
  • (8) The home secretary, Theresa May , has defied her own expert advisers and banned qat, a mild herbal stimulant that is traditionally used by Britain's Somali, Yemeni and Ethiopian communities.
  • (9) No call for the resurrection of the proud, shared traditions of Scots, Welsh and English people as they defied the powerful to build a better society; no convincing pledge that a new Britain would be forged, just and equal and fair unlike what New Labour failed to deliver.
  • (10) Some samples with complex patterns defied classification, and it is speculated that these may be from persons with duplicated C7 genes.
  • (11) Sales on the high street were much higher than expected this month, rising at their fastest rate in six years as consumers defied the gloomy economic outlook.
  • (12) But the instruction issued by the party headquarters in Paris was defied by the Socialist candidate in the Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine region, who came third but announced he would stand for the second round anyway.
  • (13) This was the childhood playground of actor Richard Harris, where he performed death-defying handstands and cycling tricks on the cliffside walls when not showboating by the sea.
  • (14) Just as no single description is universally applicable to the mode of action of vitamin A derivatives, so too do their toxic effects defy generalization.
  • (15) He has been held without charges since his arrest on 5 June but has been informed that under martial law he faces up to 14 years in prison on possible charges of inciting unrest, violating cyber laws and defying the junta's orders.
  • (16) Writers should be making more of an effort to write interesting parts for actors of colour that defy stereotypes, or implementing a Geena Davis type solution (simply change any character in a script into a woman) for race.
  • (17) It defies the logic of personal ambition that grows stronger with proximity to the biggest job in the world.
  • (18) It was so I could tell Jeremy that I had backed him.” Corbyn has defied not only Fletcher’s expectations but everyone else’s.
  • (19) But, since then, it has fallen to around $1,660 (£1,047) defying predictions – and the hopes of speculators – that it would continue to hit new peaks during the ongoing financial turmoil.
  • (20) For the last five months, he has enjoyed unprecedented political dominance, after an election where the SNP defied the logic of Holyrood's semi-proportional system by winning an absolute majority, sweeping into power with nearly 50% of the vote.

Oppose


Definition:

  • (n.) To place in front of, or over against; to set opposite; to exhibit.
  • (n.) To put in opposition, with a view to counterbalance or countervail; to set against; to offer antagonistically.
  • (n.) To resist or antagonize by physical means, or by arguments, etc.; to contend against; to confront; to resist; to withstand; as, to oppose the king in battle; to oppose a bill in Congress.
  • (n.) To compete with; to strive against; as, to oppose a rival for a prize.
  • (v. i.) To be set opposite.
  • (v. i.) To act adversely or in opposition; -- with against or to; as, a servant opposed against the act.
  • (v. i.) To make objection or opposition in controversy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A study revealed that the percentage of active sperm in semen 30 seconds after ejaculation was 10.3% when a nonoxynol 9 latex condom was used as opposed to 55.9% in a nonspermicidal condom.
  • (2) Biden will meet with representatives from six gun groups on Thursday, including the NRA and the Independent Firearms Owners Association, which are both publicly opposed to stricter gun-control laws.
  • (3) The results indicated that smoke, as opposed to sham puffs, significantly reduced reports of cigarette craving, and local anesthesia significantly blocked this immediate reduction in craving produced by smoke inhalation.
  • (4) 3) The magnitude of K+ release is the ratio of two opposing mechanisms, a passive efflux and an active reuptake.
  • (5) We are firmly opposed to that," an unidentified spokesman from the ministry of industry and information technology told the state news agency, Xinhua.
  • (6) Each axon had a characteristic head position which was maximally excitatory to it, and a diametrically opposed head position which was minimally excitatory.3.
  • (7) As opposed to the other tests for LPD, awareness of the usefulness of the biopsy has increased as we have learned more about CL physiology.
  • (8) Strict fundamentalists oppose music in any form as a sensual distraction - the Taliban, of course, banned music in Afghanistan.
  • (9) The interaction between PE and E-IgG involved the extension of micropseudopods toward adherent E-IgG, the formation of a linear uniform cap of roughly 200 A between opposing cell membranes, the ingestion of E-IgG by PE into a membrane-lined compartment, and the disintegration of the ingested ligand into membranous debris.
  • (10) It is contended that the latter is the main factor in its production as opposed to the more common external rotation variety.
  • (11) Loyalists are opposed to any restrictions and have blocked roads and rioted over the issue.
  • (12) But today, Americans increasingly no longer shy away from saying they oppose mosques on the grounds that Muslims are a threat or different.
  • (13) In contrast, large territories may reflect widespread motor-unit actions, advantageous in force development where fine movement control is less important, as in biting in the intercuspal position or opposing gravity.
  • (14) Burns has a successful track record of opposing fees.
  • (15) Protesting naked, as Femen's slogans insist, is liberté , a reappropriation of their own bodies as opposed to pornography or snatched photographs which are exploitation.
  • (16) And in terms of genuine defence needs (as opposed to state militarism), what greater known threat is there to human security than the prospect of runaway climate change?
  • (17) As opposed to nifedipine charybdotoxin shows no effect if added 18 h after the initiation of the activation process.
  • (18) RR spectra of fatty acyl-CoA and its complexes are consistent with the previous hypothesis that visible spectral shifts observed during formation of acetoacetyl-CoA and crotonyl-CoA complexes of fatty acyl-CoA dehydrogenase result from charge-transfer interactions in which the ground state is essentially nonbonding as opposed to interactions in which complete electron transfer occurs to form FAD semiquinone.
  • (19) The remarks are the most direct official response on the issue, although the government has previously said that it "resolutely opposes" hacking and criticised "baseless" claims.
  • (20) A lawyer advising one of the newspaper groups opposing the deal said: "All the regulator has to prove is that there is a potential for a reduction in plurality in the UK.