Deface

//dɪˈfeɪs// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 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."

  2. 2
    mar or spoil the appearance of wordnet
  3. 3
    To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value of.

    "He defaced the I.O.U. notes by scrawling "void" over them."

  4. 4
    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

All synonyms
blemishdisfiguredisfigurebatterbefoulbesmirch

Example

More examples

"Then, audience granted, as the fane they filled, / thus calmly spake the eldest of the train, / Ilioneus: "O queen, whom Jove hath willed / to found this new-born city, here to reign, / and stubborn tribes with justice to refrain, / we, Troy's poor fugitives, implore thy grace, / storm-tost and wandering over every main: / forbid the flames our vessels to deface, / mark our afflicted plight, and spare a pious race.""

Etymology

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

Related phrases

coat of armsdestroy propertyface value

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.