It has, after all, defied their very best efforts so far.
She tried to flatten them out on the sand, but they defied her efforts.
But the same warping made the door defy their efforts to raise it any higher.
It cuts conversation to a few shouts and defies anyone's efforts to keep clean.
The wall defied their best efforts to even scratch it with anything short of explosive devices.
We started with the books, which had defied our past halfhearted efforts to weed them out.
Often he brought back materials or devices that defied the scientists' best efforts to duplicate them.
Boxing has long defied efforts to clean it up.
McGwire has defied efforts of teams to find his weakness.
But this was a wall that defied his efforts to tear it down because it could not be seen or felt.