Standard Lemma guide

deface

verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /dɪˈfeɪs/
  • /diːˈfeɪs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪs
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 F EY1 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To damage or vandalize something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value of.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: flags

Topics: government, heraldry, hobbies, lifestyle, monarchy, nobility, politics

Examples

  • You get the Finnish state flag by defacing the national flag with the state coat of arms placed in the middle of the cross.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

mar or spoil the appearance of

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • scars defaced her cheeks
  • The vandals disfigured the statue

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: disfigure, blemish

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mar, impair, spoil, deflower, vitiate

Narrower terms: maul, mangle, scar, mark, pock, pit

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: poničit — to damage
  • Czech: počmárat — to damage
  • Dutch: schenden — to damage
  • Finnish: mitätöidä — to damage
  • French: défigurer — to damage
  • French: dégrader — to damage
  • German: verunstalten — to damage
  • German: entstellen — to damage
  • Irish: loit — to damage
  • Italian: sfregiare — to damage
  • Portuguese: desfigurar — to damage
  • Spanish: pintarrajear — to damage
  • Ottoman Turkish: بوزمق (bozmak) — to damage
  • Bulgarian: анулирам (anuliram) — to void or devalue
  • Finnish: turmella — to void or devalue
  • Finnish: vahingoittaa — to void or devalue
  • Ottoman Turkish: بوزمق (bozmak) — to void or devalue
  • Finnish: muunnella — heraldry: to alter by adding a new element