disfigure
verbUK /dɪsˈfɪɡə/ · US /dɪsˈfɪɡjɚ/
Etymology From Middle English disfiguren, from Anglo-Norman desfigurer.
1
to irreversibly damage the shape or structure of something, negatively affecting its appearance or functionality without completely destroying it.
- His face was disfigured by a terrible fire many years ago, leaving deep scars across his crooked nose.
- The North British Railway was always anxious to connect its line to Helensburgh Pier but the local residents would not permit their foreshore or promenade to be disfigured, so the company had to resort further east and on May 18, 1882, opened the railway pier and station at Craigendoran.1959 November, G. H. Robin, “Railways to Helensburgh—a pre-electrification retrospect”, in Trains Illustrated, page 544:
- Synonyms
- leper, disfeature
- Derived terms
- disfiguration, disfigurative, disfigurement, disfigurer, disfiguringly