Deface vs Destroy - What's the difference?
deface | destroy | Related terms |
To damage something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.
* 1869:
To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value.
* 1776:
(heraldry, flags) To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.
To cause destruction.
To neutralize, undo a property or condition.
To put down or euthanize.
(colloquial) To defeat soundly.
(computing) To remove data.
As verbs the difference between deface and destroy
is that deface is to damage something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner while destroy is To damage beyond use or repair.
deface
English
Verb
(defac)- That wondrous frame where melody began / Lay as a tomb defaced that no eye cared to scan.
- He defaced the I.O.U. notes by scrawling "void" over them.
- One-and-twenty worn and defaced' shillings, however, were considered as equivalent to a guinea, which perhaps, indeed, was worn and ' defaced too, but seldom so much so.
- You get the Finnish state flag by defacing the national flag with the state coat of arms placed in the middle of the cross.
Synonyms
* (damage in a conspicuous way ): disfigure, mar, obliterate, scar, vandalize * (degrade the face value ): cancel, devalue, nullify, voidDerived terms
* defacementSee also
* effacedestroy
English
Verb
To damage beyond use or repair.
- The earthquake destroyed several apartment complexes.
- ''Hooligans destroy unprovoked
- ''Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate
- Destroying a rabid dog is required by law.
- The memory leak happened because we forgot to destroy the temporary lists.
