DISFIGUREMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does disfigurement mean? 

• DISFIGUREMENT (noun)
  The noun DISFIGUREMENT has 2 senses:

1. an appearance that has been spoiled or is misshapen

2. the act of damaging the appearance or surface of something

  Familiarity information: DISFIGUREMENT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISFIGUREMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An appearance that has been spoiled or is misshapen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

deformity; disfiguration; disfigurement

Context example:

suffering from facial disfiguration

Hypernyms ("disfigurement" is a kind of...):

appearance; visual aspect (outward or visible aspect of a person or thing)

Derivation:

disfigure (mar or spoil the appearance of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of damaging the appearance or surface of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

defacement; disfiguration; disfigurement; mutilation

Context example:

he objected to the dam's massive disfigurement of the landscape

Hypernyms ("disfigurement" is a kind of...):

damage; harm; hurt; scathe (the act of damaging something or someone)

Derivation:

disfigure (mar or spoil the appearance of)

 Context examples 

A surgeon who specializes in reducing scarring or disfigurement that may occur as a result of accidents, birth defects, or treatment for diseases.

(Plastic surgeon, NCI Dictionary)

Neurofibromas can become quite large, causing a major disfigurement, eroding bone, and compressing various peripheral nerve structures.

(Neurofibromatosis type 1, NCI Thesaurus)

As to his features, they were scarcely human in their disfigurement, for the deep wrinkles and pouchings of extreme age had been added to a face which had always been grotesquely ugly, and had been crushed and smashed in addition by many a blow.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It typically begins as a small vesicle or ulcer on the gingiva that rapidly becomes necrotic and spreads to produce extensive destruction of the buccal and labial mucosa and tissues of the face, which may result in severe disfigurement and even death.

(Gangrenous Stomatitis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)