deface

English

Etymology

From Middle English defacen, from Old French defacier, desfacier (“to mutilate, destroy, disfigure”), from des- (“away from”) (see dis-) + Late Latin facia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈfeɪs/, /diːˈfeɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪs

Verb

deface (third-person singular simple present defaces, present participle defacing, simple past and past participle defaced)

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. (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

• (damage in a conspicuous way): disfigure, mar, obliterate, scar, vandalize
• (degrade the face value): cancel, devalue, nullify, void

Derived terms

• defaceable
• defacement
• defacer
• defacingly
• undefaced

 

Translations

to damage

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} обезобразявам (bg) (obezobrazjavam)
• Czech: poničit pf, počmárat pf
• Dutch: schenden (nl)
• Finnish: mitätöidä (fi)
• French: défigurer (fr), dégrader (fr)
• German: verunstalten (de), entstellen (de)
• Irish: loit
• Italian: sfregiare (it)
• Ottoman Turkish: بوزمق (bozmak)
• Portuguese: desfigurar (pt)
• Spanish: pintarrajear (es)

to void or devalue

• Bulgarian: анулирам (bg) (anuliram)
• Finnish: turmella (fi), vahingoittaa (fi)
• Ottoman Turkish: بوزمق (bozmak)

heraldry: to alter by adding a new element

• Finnish: muunnella (fi)

See also

• efface