Definition

1. Verb:
   • To disguise or make unrecognizable: "defeature" means to alter the appearance of something or someone so that it cannot be easily identified or recognized.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • The spy used makeup to defeature himself before the mission. (He disguised his appearance to avoid recognition.)
  • The artist defaced the painting to defeature the original subject. (He changed the painting so the original subject was no longer identifiable.)

Advanced Usage

• "to defeature a person": to change someone's physical features to hide their identity.

  • The witness was defeatured by the police for protection before testifying. (The witness's appearance was altered for safety.)

• "to defeature a document": to remove or obscure identifying marks or features.

  • The forgery expert defeatured the passport to make it untraceable. (He removed identifying features from the passport.)

Variants and Related Words

• Defeature (noun): the act or result of making something unrecognizable.
  • The defeature of the building's facade was part of the renovation. (The alteration made the building's front unrecognizable.)

Synonyms

• Disguise: to change the appearance of something to hide its true nature.
• Camouflage: to hide something by making it blend into its surroundings.
• Alter: to change something, often to obscure its original form.

Antonyms

• Recognize: to identify something or someone as known.
• Identify: to establish the identity of something or someone.

Related Idioms

• "To throw someone off the scent": to mislead or confuse someone trying to find you.
  • She defeatured her car to throw the paparazzi off the scent. (She disguised her car to mislead the photographers.)