1
as in to vandalize
to deliberately cause the damage or destruction of another's property
the principal vowed to get the punks who defaced the statue in front of the school
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to injure
to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of
years of wear had defaced the fine engraving on the coins
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of deface
The pressure builds until Eddie has a meltdown in public, shaking and threatening the kids who defaced his car.
—
Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Sep. 2025
In 2010, a man was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $10,000 for intentionally defacing carvings at Lake Mead, according to the city.
—Hannah Dreyfus, AZCentral.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Someone had defaced it overnight with paper cutouts and red paint.
—Shomik Mukherjee, Mercury News, 6 Sep. 2025
The Greenwich Village apartment building of New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn was defaced with red paint and graffiti in the early hours of Friday morning.
—Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deface
Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Sep. 2025
In 2010, a man was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $10,000 for intentionally defacing carvings at Lake Mead, according to the city.
—Hannah Dreyfus, AZCentral.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Someone had defaced it overnight with paper cutouts and red paint.
—Shomik Mukherjee, Mercury News, 6 Sep. 2025
The Greenwich Village apartment building of New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn was defaced with red paint and graffiti in the early hours of Friday morning.
—Danya Gainor, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for deface
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deface
Verb
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Arnold and Evetts are among ten individuals who allegedly took part in an ambush of federal agents at the ICE detention facility, during which authorities say the suspects used fireworks to distract officers while vandalizing vehicles outside the facility.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Oct. 2025
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Randall ended up being arrested amid a flurry of arrests across the state and country for people accused of vandalizing Teslas and dealerships.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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From January to June, more than 3,100 people were reported killed across Haiti and an additional 1,100 reported injured, according to the United Nations.—
NPR,
NPR,
17 Oct. 2025
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Ten minutes later, Martinelli actually scored after making a good run in behind from the right wing as Saka had gone off injured.—
Art de Roché,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Almost every building is damaged or destroyed beyond repair.—
Kara Fox,
CNN Money,
19 Oct. 2025
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According to Craig Croucher of the Bot Builders, around 300 spectators turned out to watch the robots destroy each other.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Oct. 2025
Verb
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An artillery round fired over Interstate 5 at Sunday’s live-fire demonstration at Camp Pendleton prematurely detonated, striking and damaging a California Highway Patrol vehicle that was part of Vice President JD Vance’s detail, the CHP said Sunday.—
Paul Sisson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
20 Oct. 2025
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Thermal runaway, or self-heating, can occur without warning in lithium batteries as a result of various factors, including if the battery is damaged, overheated, exposed to water, overcharged or improperly packed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.—
Toria Sheffield,
PEOPLE,
19 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And often, that was exactly how forgeries were eventually demolished.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
16 Oct. 2025
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On land, the current one- and two-story buildings will be demolished and replaced with 15,682 square feet of modern marina facilities spread across two, two-story buildings.—
Jennifer Van Grove,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Though his career was marked by flashes of brilliance, including another 1,400-yard rushing season in 2015, it was also marred by injuries and off-field challenges.—
Jakob Rodgers,
Mercury News,
20 Oct. 2025
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But the country’s industrial innovation has also been marred by production overcapacity.—
Simone McCarthy,
CNN Money,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Drummond's proposals to the court to sharply limit litter's use as fertilizer would amount to a ban on the practice in the river's watershed; this and the cost of removing all litter from the watershed would ruin poultry growers throughout the region, defendants argue.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
21 Oct. 2025
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In the end, the explorers destroyed themselves and their ships and ruined the lives of so many indigenous people after setting up colonies in places like Tierra del Fuego.—
Charlie Markbreiter,
Them.,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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On December 7, 1941, 353 Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 Americans and crippling much of the Pacific Fleet.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
20 Oct. 2025
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Sanctions have crippled the government’s primary source of revenue, oil exports, limiting the state’s ability to provide for millions of impoverished Iranians through social safety nets.—
Leila Gharagozlou,
CNN Money,
19 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deface.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deface. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.
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