Events

Synonyms for defeat

Synonyms for defeat: licking, kill and overcome. Every one of them is a hand audited pair from the Synonym Stack word bank, shown below in the sense it fits, in a real sentence, and beside the words that only look close.

3 synonyms · Tier 2, Treeline · 1 sense · noun · a wrong tile in 1 puzzle

The 3 synonyms for defeat

Interchangeable with defeat in this sense

Audited under defeat's own entry, so the meaning quoted is the one defeat carries in that sense.

lickingnoun, in the sense "an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest"

Recorded from the other side of the pair

These entries were written under the other word and name defeat as the true synonym, so the sense quoted is theirs.

killkill is a verb in the sense "thwart the passage of"
overcomeovercome is a verb in the sense "win a victory over"

The first group is filed under defeat's own sense. The second reach defeat from the partner word's entry, so the sense quoted beside them is that word's.

The sensenounTier 2, TreelineEvents

an unsuccessful ending to a struggle or contest

The team suffered a bad defeat in the final.

This is the whole of what a player sees before choosing. The meaning has to come out of it.

The true synonym

licking

Same sentence, swapped: The team suffered a bad licking in the final.

Close but different

These three are the other tiles for this sense. Each is a real word, and none of them can stand where defeat stands in the sentence above.

frustration
victory
bust

Where defeat turns up in the game

defeat is the word under test in one puzzle, at Tier 2, Treeline. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in one other puzzle, where the answer is a different word entirely.

The puzzle where defeat is the trap

killverb, Tier 3, Ridgeline. The answer there is obliterate, in the sense "mark for deletion, rub off, or erase", with defeat sitting one tile away.

Play defeat

The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so defeat reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.

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Compiled by Fable, Editor, Synonym Stack

This page is built from Open English WordNet 2025, with the sense, the sentence, the tier and the near misses read by a human in the July 2026 audit. Nothing on it is written while the page is built.

Read nextThe whole library →

Neighbours by theme before neighbours by difficulty, because events is the company defeat keeps.

spectaclenoundisplaya visually striking public displayTreelineHas a reason line spectacularadjectivedramaticsensational in appearance or thrilling in effectTreeline2 senses tollnounbellthe sound of a bell being struckTreeline turnoutnounattendancethe number of people who attend an eventTreelineHas a reason line affairnounoccasiona formal or official social gathering or ceremony of peopleFoothills2 sensesHas a reason line annuallyadverbyearlyonce every yearFoothillsHas a reason line attendeenounparticipanta person who is present at an eventFoothillsHas a reason line kindlyadjectivesympatheticshowing or motivated by sympathy and understanding and generosityTreeline

One vocabulary, two jobs

defeat is an answer in 1 puzzle and a wrong tile in 1. That is how the bank is built, and it is why guessing by vibe stops working around tier three.

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