ASL signs for DEFEAT

How to sign "defeat" in American Sign Language and how to use inflections.

Meaning: Win a victory over a person in a battle or other contest.

Synonym (another ASL word): BEAT.

Inflections

In grammar, the base verb can be inflected in agreement with the subject, object, and/or pronoun in a sentence. Here is a couple of examples.

Verb inflection: Win a victory over all persons in a battle or other contest.

Usage examples: "beats everyone in a game".

Grammatical variation (no video): Instead of one movement in the dominant hand, the movement can be repeated which indicate "defeat or beat or win in each session, game, or contest."

Usage examples: "beats everyone in each game", "beats every time".

Verb inflection: Beat/defeat me.

Meaning: be defeated; having been beaten in a battle or other contest. Same sign for LOSE.

Phrases

defeat its own purpose:

Meaning: To make (something) pointless; to be against the purpose of something, to nullify the purpose of something.

Video contributed by Joseph Wheeler, 2017.

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