DEFACE

deface, disfigure, blemish

(verb) mar or spoil the appearance of; “scars defaced her cheeks”; “The vandals disfigured the statue”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

deface (third-person singular simple present defaces, present participle defacing, simple past and past participle defaced)

To damage or vandalize something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.

To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value of.

(heraldry, flags) To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.

Synonyms

• (damage in a conspicuous way): disfigure, mar, obliterate, scar, vandalize

• (degrade the face value): cancel, devalue, nullify, void

Source: Wiktionary

De*face", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Defaced; p. pr. & vb. n. Defacing.] Etym: [OE. defacen to disfigure, efface, OF. desfacier; L. dis- + facies face. See Face, and cf. Efface.]

1. To destroy or mar the face or external appearance of; to disfigure; to injure, spoil, or mar, by effacing or obliterating important features or portions of; as, to deface a monument; to deface an edifice; to deface writing; to deface a note, deed, or bond; to deface a record. "This high face defaced." Emerson. So by false learning is good sense defaced. Pope.

2. Etym: [Cf. F. défaire.]

Definition: To destroy; to make null. [Obs.] [Profane scoffing] doth . . . deface the reverence of religion. Bacon. For all his power was utterly defaste [defaced]. Spenser.

Syn.

– See Efface.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition