as in damaging
to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of
the statue was seriously disfigured by falling rubble during the earthquake
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of disfiguring
Many patients who file lawsuits blame disfiguring injuries on what happened after their operations, such as office visits in which medical staff allegedly didn’t recognize, or dismissed, evidence of worsening surgical complications, court records show.
—
Fred Schulte, Miami Herald, 30 Dec. 2025
His body had been subjected to disfiguring violence—not just beaten but run over repeatedly with his own car and partially burned—and many suspected a Mafia-style revenge killing.
—Literary Hub, 18 Dec. 2025
Outdoor turkey frying fires and in-door kitchen stove fires can send residents to the emergency room with disfiguring injuries that often require skin grafting, said Patrick Duffy, burn surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
—Beth Warren, Nashville Tennessean, 26 Nov. 2025
Though confused by their new reality in the spirit world, the teenagers willingly decide to carry on as they are accosted by a series of demons such as doctors disfiguring patients, human traffickers, and being plagued by war and terrorism.
—Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 15 Nov. 2025
In between detonating bombs hidden in Christmas presents and disfiguring the entire police force, Art sets his sights on the Shaw family.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Freud's pessimism is exacerbated not only by the imminent world war, but also by painful and disfiguring oral cancer.
—Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 27 Oct. 2025
To prevent outbreaks of this debilitating, disfiguring and deadly disease, state and local governments implemented smallpox inoculation and vaccination campaigns into the early 1900s.
—Stacie Kershner, The Conversation, 22 Sep. 2025
Killing or seriously disfiguring a neighbor's plants can be grounds for a court battle.
—Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 22 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disfiguring
Verb
-
One person was taken into custody after a fire ripped through a synagogue in Mississippi, heavily damaging the historic house of worship in what authorities say was an act of arson.—
-
Freezing foods quickly helps preserve texture by preventing large ice crystals from damaging delicate cell walls.—
Verb
-
Including playoffs, Mayfield turned the ball over more than anyone else from 2023 through 2024, marring an otherwise fantastic two seasons in Tampa Bay.—
-
An optional front rack on both models adds instant utility without marring the retro-fantastic looks.—
Verb
-
Police say a rock was thrown at a school bus on the New Jersey Turnpike on Wednesday, shattering a window and seriously injuring a young child.—
-
On January 1, history repeated itself when a fire erupted at the Le Constellation nightclub in Switzerland, claiming 40 lives — more than half of them under the age of 18 — and injuring over 100 others.—
Verb
-
Since then, they've been forced to work remotely — at a time when the government was doling out return-to-office mandates — preventing access to labs and crippling the center's mission of embedding NASA climate scientists within international academia.—
-
On December 7, 1941, 353 Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 Americans and crippling much of the Pacific Fleet.—
Cite this Entry
“Disfiguring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disfiguring. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share