defacement

About 0.05 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun An act of defacing; an instance of visibly marring or disfiguring something.

   Some consider the defacement of the Sphinx to be the most egregious crime of Napolean's campaigns.

2. noun An act of voiding or devaluing; nullification of the face value.

   The soldiers found a variety of creative uses for their payment scrip after its defacement to scrap paper; some used it as toilet paper.

3. noun A symbol added to a flag or coat of arms to change it or make it different from another.

Similar words

disfigurement degradation breakdown damage deterioration deformation worsening distortion deflection misrepresentation

Often followed by

of and or by is in was that to