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Social defeat refers to the experience of being placed in a subordinate, marginalized, or outsider position within a social environment, particularly when individuals perceive limited control, reduced social standing, or exclusion from a valued social group ^[1][2]. In human research, social defeat has been associated with experiences such as discrimination, bullying, social exclusion, chronic social disadvantage, and other forms of adverse social interaction ^[1][3]. The concept emphasizes the subjective experience of diminished social status or belonging rather than the occurrence of a single unsuccessful social interaction ^[2]. Social defeat can be acute or persistent, with repeated or prolonged experiences potentially contributing to psychological stress, social withdrawal, negative self-evaluation, and other adverse psychological outcomes ^[1][3]. It overlaps with social exclusion and social subordination but is not identical to either concept, as social defeat specifically emphasizes the individual's experience of diminished social position or status ^[2]. Social defeat is also used in animal research to describe the behavioral and physiological consequences of losing social confrontations, although these experimental models do not fully correspond to the subjective experience of human social defeat ^[1].