1
as in destroys
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
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in injures
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defaces
Verb
-
For those who know the play well, some of Mantello’s choices are most striking, especially the horror here of the famous hotel-room scene with a tawdry lover (brutally played by Katherine Romans), an act born of loneliness that destroys a father’s relationship with his son forever.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
10 Apr. 2026 -
Alzheimer’s disease, a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, affects more than 6 million Americans, most of them age 65 or older.—
Khloe Quill,
FOXNews.com,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
In her desperation to ask Val for a job on the new sitcom, Sharon falls and injures herself.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Pool drain seriously injures girl Paloma Quatrini was just days away from her fourth birthday when the accident happened at an upscale resort in Mexico.—
Meghan Schiller,
CBS News,
16 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Over the long run, missing the market's best days damages your returns.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Military advocates warn that deporting service members’ spouses damages recruitment and morale, undermining national security interests.—
Jack Brook,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The latest filing demolishes the timeworn claim that DOGE was infiltrated into Social Security in order to responsibly ferret out fraud and overspending.—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Jan. 2026
-
If the city demolishes the building, the costs will be assessed to the property owner.—
Frederick Melo,
Twin Cities,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
No sadness mars the purity of its paranoia.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
22 Mar. 2026
-
However, an earnestness mars most of the proceedings.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
20 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
However, special considerations must be made for a brontosaurus who trashes London in the climax of the 1925 silent film The Lost World.—
James Grebey,
Vulture,
1 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
The author takes an overnight Amtrak journey instead of a flight to Washington as the government shutdown cripples Atlanta’s airport.—
Bill Barrow,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Mar. 2026
-
These pressures could produce a tsunami that fractures the state’s fiscal foundation, self-inflicts a crisis ultimately demanding drastic cuts, and cripples its competitiveness.—
Andrew Rein,
New York Daily News,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
But Wark smashes a ball to left field for the Aggies to retake the lead, 7-5.—
Zoe Collins Rath,
Austin American Statesman,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Delivery robot smashes into glass of bus shelter in Old Town on Tuesday afternoon.—
Jeramie Bizzle,
CBS News,
25 Mar. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Defaces.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defaces. Accessed 13 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
