deface
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English defacen, from Old French defacier, desfacier (“to mutilate, destroy, disfigure”), from des- (“away from”) (see dis-) + Late Latin facia.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /dɪˈfeɪs/, /diːˈfeɪs/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪs
Verb
editdeface (third-person singular simple present defaces, present participle defacing, simple past and past participle defaced)
- To damage or vandalize something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.
- 1869: George Eliot, The Legend of Jubal
- That wondrous frame where melody began / Lay as a tomb defaced that no eye cared to scan.
- After the painting was defaced a decade ago, it went viral and has been a tourist attraction ever since.
- 1869: George Eliot, The Legend of Jubal
- To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value of.
- He defaced the I.O.U. notes by scrawling "void" over them.
- 1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
- One-and-twenty worn and defaced shillings, however, were considered as equivalent to a guinea, which perhaps, indeed, was worn and defaced too, but seldom so much so.
- (heraldry, flags) To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.
- You get the Finnish state flag by defacing the national flag with the state coat of arms placed in the middle of the cross.
Synonyms
edit- (damage in a conspicuous way): disfigure, mar, obliterate, scar, vandalize
- (degrade the face value): cancel, devalue, nullify, void
Derived terms
editTranslations
editto damage
|
to void or devalue
See also
editCategories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪs
- Rhymes:English/eɪs/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Heraldry
- en:Flags