as in vandalism
deliberate damaging or destroying of another's property
the neo-Nazis' defacing of the synagogue was condemned by the entire community
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in vandalizing
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
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in marring
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of defacing
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
31 Dec. 2025
Nathan Ellgren,
Chicago Tribune,
22 June 2026
Two men from Germany were arrested after being accused of defacing a pride bench in Miami Beach with antisemitic symbols on Monday.
—
Steven Yablonski,
CBS News,
19 May 2026
No one in Florida had been charged with criminal mischief for defacing a traffic control device until the August arrests.
—
Cristóbal Reyes,
The Orlando Sentinel,
24 Apr. 2026
An inflatable effigy depicting Trump defacing the Constitution made its way through the crowd.
—
Nik Popli,
Time,
28 Mar. 2026
This exclusion protects the home warranty company from homeowners who may try to get replacements for appliances or home system components by defacing or damaging them purposefully.
—
Dan Simms,
USA Today,
23 Mar. 2026
Denilson Pires was arrested and charged with carrying a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without an FID card, and defacing a firearm serial number.
—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
10 Mar. 2026
Sohail faces federal charges of intentionally defacing or damaging religious real property, which carries a maximum three years behind bars.
—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
2 Mar. 2026
Assembly and free-speech rights would not protect defacing government property, such as barricades.
—
Taylor Seely,
AZCentral.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
The investigation into the racist defacing of the black professors’ portraits at Harvard Law School in 2015 continues into an eleventh year with no resolution and no suspects.
—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
31 Dec. 2025
Verb
Trump, in one of his Truth Social posts, cited laws against defacing monuments as grounds for imprisoning anyone harming the pool.
—
Nathan Ellgren,
Chicago Tribune,
22 June 2026
Two men from Germany were arrested after being accused of defacing a pride bench in Miami Beach with antisemitic symbols on Monday.
—
Steven Yablonski,
CBS News,
19 May 2026
No one in Florida had been charged with criminal mischief for defacing a traffic control device until the August arrests.
—
Cristóbal Reyes,
The Orlando Sentinel,
24 Apr. 2026
An inflatable effigy depicting Trump defacing the Constitution made its way through the crowd.
—
Nik Popli,
Time,
28 Mar. 2026
This exclusion protects the home warranty company from homeowners who may try to get replacements for appliances or home system components by defacing or damaging them purposefully.
—
Dan Simms,
USA Today,
23 Mar. 2026
Denilson Pires was arrested and charged with carrying a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without an FID card, and defacing a firearm serial number.
—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
10 Mar. 2026
Sohail faces federal charges of intentionally defacing or damaging religious real property, which carries a maximum three years behind bars.
—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
2 Mar. 2026
Assembly and free-speech rights would not protect defacing government property, such as barricades.
—
Taylor Seely,
AZCentral.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defacing
Noun
-
Koza insists that her spouse had no part in the violence that started with fireworks and vandalism but ended with gunfire that wounded a Johnson County deputy.
-
Neither agency responded immediately to USA TODAY's request for comment on the alleged vandalism.
Verb
-
But goons roaming the streets, vandalizing property and causing mayhem must not be tolerated.
-
Hilda Solis, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said that anyone caught vandalizing an election facility or committing other acts to interfere with the election will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Verb
-
Lined with live oaks and old-fashioned, busy storefronts, this artsy town on the Gulf of Mexico has no commercial development marring its shoreline.
-
In Strasbourg, groups of Palace supporters clashed among themselves in a square in the city centre, marring the occasion.
Noun
-
Riverside has both a community center named for Chavez and a bronze statue — often the target of vandalization — on the Main Street pedestrian mall in the city’s downtown.
-
Police said officers from the 116th Precinct had been alerted to the vandalization in the neighborhood and found 11 different police vehicles, both marked and unmarked, with damage.
Verb
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That second blaze burned charred 23,500 acres in that community, Malibu and elsewhere, killing 12 people and destroying or damaging more than 7,500 homes and businesses.
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These kinds of old negatives are often stored inside cans and are so fragile they can’t be unrolled without destroying them, Seales says.
Verb
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Primary hazards include damaging wind gusts, locally heavy rainfall and frequent lightning strikes, with hail and a brief tornado or waterspout also possible.
-
Nelson is doing fine now In 2000, Nelson was diagnosed with HIV and sarcoidosis, a condition that went into remission until a severe case of Legionnaires’ disease in 2021 reactivated it, damaging both his lungs and liver.
Noun
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David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, told the the Washington Post he was arrested on June 19 and charged with misdemeanor destruction of government property.
-
This came on the heels of another round of tornadoes just four days earlier that leveled buildings and caused widespread destruction across the region.
Verb
-
But everyday people expressed their political outrage time and again, throwing rocks at and demolishing the houses of government officials, torching the king’s ships and forts and, eventually, marching to battle.
-
During that 25-day closure, PennDOT crews will be demolishing the existing Commercial Street Bridge and sliding in the new bridge, which has been constructed alongside the Parkway East outside of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.
Cite this Entry
“Defacing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defacing. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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