defeature
Definition
- 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.)