vanquish

English

Etymology

From Middle English venquysshen, vaynquisshen, borrowed from a conjugated form of Old French veincre, from Latin vincō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvæŋkwɪʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

vanquish (third-person singular simple present vanquishes, present participle vanquishing, simple past and past participle vanquished)

1. (transitive) To defeat (someone); to overcome.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 98, column 2:

     In ſingle Combat thou ſhalt buckle vvith me; / And if thou vanquiſheſt, thy vvords are true, / Othervviſe I renounce all confidence.

   • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Sheldonian] Theater, →OCLC:

     This bold assertion has been so fully vanquish'd in a late reply to the Bishop of Meaux's treatise.

   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     They […] vanquished the rebels in all encounters.

Related terms

• convince
• evince
• victor

Translations

to defeat (someone) — see also overcome

• Bulgarian: надвивам (bg) (nadvivam), побеждавам (bg) (pobeždavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 消滅／消灭 (zh) (xiāomiè), 征服 (zh) (zhēngfú)

• Cornish: tryghi
• Dutch: overwinnen, verslaan
• Finnish: voittaa (fi), päihittää (fi), kukistaa (fi)
• French: vaincre (fr)
• Galician: vencer (gl)
• Georgian: გამარჯვება (gamarǯveba), გადალახვა(დაბრკოლების) (gadalaxva(dabrḳolebis)), დაპყრობა (daṗq̇roba)
• German: besiegen (de)
• Greek: καταβάλλω (el) (katavállo)
• Italian: sopraffare (it), sconfiggere (it), vincere (it)
• Japanese: 倒す (ja) (taosu), やっつける (ja) (yattsukeru)
• Khmer: ឈ្នះ (km) (cneah)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بەزاندِن (bezandin)

• Latin: evinco
• Maori: takapapa
• Norwegian: nedkjempe, overvinne (no)
• Occitan: véncer (oc), vencir (oc)
• Portuguese: derrotar (pt), vencer (pt), superar (pt)
• Russian: побежда́ть (ru) impf (pobeždátʹ), победи́ть (ru) pf (pobedítʹ), преодолева́ть (ru) impf (preodolevátʹ), преодоле́ть (ru) pf (preodolétʹ) (to overcome), покоря́ть (ru) impf (pokorjátʹ), покори́ть (ru) pf (pokorítʹ)
• Sanskrit: जयति (sa) (jayati), सहते (sa) (sahate)
• Serbo-Croatian: poraziti (sh), potući (sh), pobijediti (sh)
• Spanish: vencer (es)
• Swedish: besegra (sv), övervinna (sv)
• Turkish: yenmek (tr), alt etmek (tr)