Meanings
- not comparableSo as to defeat, or frustrate progress.
It seemed defeatingly solid, but the metal building attaching to the frame seemed rusty and fatigued. He pressed against it, and it seemed like it would give way easily.
2012, Paula Rae Wallace, The Andersons, page 2981 more example
Mathematics is cognitively difficult, technical, abstract, and (for many) defeatingly impersonal: one needs, it seems, to have been inside the dressing room in order to make much sense of the play.
2006, Reuben Hersh, 18 Unconventional Essays on the Nature of Mathematics, page 97
Origin
Cite this entry
defeatingly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defeatingly
“defeatingly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defeatingly. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “defeatingly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defeatingly.
Source: defeatingly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.