This was actually the card that I drew for my daily card draw this morning, so thought it was very timely that this thread popped up.
Contrascarpe, you bring up a good point, one I thought myself this morning when first looking at the card. Are you defeating someone, or are you the one facing the possibility of being defeated?
I guess that would depend on where it turns up in a reading and what some of the surrounding cards but my initial feeling is that as it has followed the 3 and 4 of Swords, that it could mean that if you rush into things too quickly without giving them enough thought that you could well be defeated.
Also when looking at the picture of the swords, the two broken ones seem like they are a bit trapped by the other three from above. Like they are surrounded and overwhelmed and perhaps should have thought more before taking on a battle where they were outnumbered 3 to 2. They will no doubt learn from this experience and become wiser as a result. "What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger" pops to mind.
CreativeFire
PS. As an aside - I have also been looking through my new Thoth deck and its 5 of Swords is also called "Defeat".