disfigure

[ dis-fig-yer; British dis-fig-er ]
See synonyms for disfigure on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),dis·fig·ured, dis·fig·ur·ing.
  1. to mar the appearance or beauty of; deform; deface: Our old towns are increasingly disfigured by tasteless new buildings.

  2. to mar the effect or excellence of: His reputation was disfigured by instances of political favoritism.

Origin of disfigure

1
1325–75; Middle English disfiguren<Anglo-French, Old French desfigurer, equivalent to des-dis-1 + -figurer, verbal derivative of figurefigure

synonym study For disfigure

1. See mar.

Other words for disfigure

Opposites for disfigure

Other words from disfigure

  • dis·fig·ur·er, noun
  • un·dis·fig·ured, adjective

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

How to use disfigure in a sentence

  • He took the hand she held out to him, and looked down at her out of his grimy, disfigured face, an odd tenderness stirring him.

    St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
  • A kindly young man, with a rather wide face and hands disfigured as to fingers by much early baseball.

    The Amazing Interlude | Mary Roberts Rinehart
  • The discourses of our modern preachers are not disfigured by similar faults.

    A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1 (of 10) | Franois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
  • The moonlight made Smith's sallow, disfigured face so much more ghastly than usual, that he had the air of a ghoul or vampyre.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • But when the blood had been washed from the disfigured face it was known, beyond all doubt, for that of Charles the Bold.

    Belgium | George W. T. (George William Thomson) Omond

British Dictionary definitions for disfigure

disfigure

/ (dɪsˈfɪɡə) /


verb(tr)
  1. to spoil the appearance or shape of; deface

  2. to mar the effect or quality of

Derived forms of disfigure

  • disfigurer, 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