DEFACE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does deface mean? 

• DEFACE (verb)
  The verb DEFACE has 1 sense:

1. mar or spoil the appearance of

  Familiarity information: DEFACE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEFACE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they deface    ... he / she / it defaces   
Past simple: defaced   
Past participle: defaced   
-ing form: defacing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Mar or spoil the appearance of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

blemish; deface; disfigure

Context example:

The vandals disfigured the statue

Hypernyms (to "deface" is one way to...):

deflower; impair; mar; spoil; vitiate (make imperfect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deface"):

mangle; maul (injure badly by beating)

mark; pit; pock; scar (mark with a scar)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

defacement (the act of damaging the appearance or surface of something)

 Context examples 

She rummaged in a bureau, and presently she produced a photograph of a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have, in my possession, in his hand and pocket-book, several similar imitations of Mr. W.'s signature, here and there defaced by fire, but legible to anyone. I never attested any such document. And I have the document itself, in my possession. Uriah Heep, with a start, took out of his pocket a bunch of keys, and opened a certain drawer; then, suddenly bethought himself of what he was about, and turned again towards us, without looking in it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)