Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - defeat

~1 n 1 failure to win or succeed  (an election defeat | serious defeat)  (The government has suffered a serious defeat. | admit defeat (=stop trying to succeed))  (She's told him she won't marry him, but he'll never admit defeat.) 2 victory over someone or something + of  (We made the defeat of fascism our major priority.) ~2 v 1 to win a victory over someone in a war, competition, game etc; beat1 (1)  (After a long campaign Wellington's army finally defeated Napoleon. | defeat sb by 10 points/ by 3 goals to 2 etc)  (We defeated the other team by six runs.)  (- see win1) 2 if something defeats you, you cannot understand it and therefore cannot answer or deal with it  (It was the last question on the paper that defeated me.) 3 to make something fail  (It was a lack of money, not effort, that defeated their plan.)