deface

[ dih-feys ]
See synonyms for deface on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),de·faced, de·fac·ing.
  1. to mar the surface or appearance of; disfigure: to deface a wall by writing on it.

  2. to efface, obliterate, or injure the surface of, as to make illegible or invalid: to deface a bond.

Origin of deface

1
1275–1325; Middle English defacen, from Old French desfacier, equivalent to des-dis-1 + facier (faceface + -ier infinitive suffix)

synonym study For deface

1. See mar.

Other words for deface

Other words from deface

  • de·face·a·ble, adjective
  • de·face·ment, noun
  • de·fac·er, noun
  • un·de·face·a·ble, adjective
  • un·de·faced, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use deface in a sentence

  • So living mars and defaces and maims, and living appears wantonly to soil and to degrade its prey before destroying it.

    Figures of Earth | James Branch Cabell
  • There was none of the rancour in his references to Wales which defaces his account of contemporary Ireland.

  • Let those sorrows hide their diminished heads before the tremendous mountain of woe that thus defaces our globe!

    Mary Wollstonecraft | Elizabeth Robins Pennell
  • Mountains well wooded are on every hand; no black factory smoke defaces the sky line.

    The Johnstown Horror | James Herbert Walker
  • Why defaces he the fair page of creation, and why is he to be continued?

British Dictionary definitions for deface

deface

/ (dɪˈfeɪs) /


verb
  1. (tr) to spoil or mar the surface, legibility, or appearance of; disfigure

Derived forms of deface

  • defaceable, adjective
  • defacement, noun
  • defacer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012