defactor

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verb

To modify source code to remove design patterns and structure, for example to make it harder to reverse-engineer.

Scrabble 14
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Meanings

verbdefactor (third-person singular simple present defactors, present participle defactoring, simple past and past participle defactored)

present singular third person defactors · participle present defactoring · participle past defactored · past defactored

  1. rarecomputingTo modify source code to remove design patterns and structure, for example to make it harder to reverse-engineer.
    1 more example

    One of my favorite transformations is to use threads to confuse a hacker who is trying to steal code. […] Many of the transformations I've discussed go against the programmer's natural sense of what's good and right […] You also don't have to defactor (see the section "Removing Programming Idioms") if you don't want to; you can refactor too. Refactor two similar classes into a parent class, but leave behind a buggy version of one or more of the refactored classes.

    2012, Godfrey Nolan, Decompiling Android, page 137

Origin

de- + factor, modelled on earlier refactor.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

factored
Cite this entry
APA

defactor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defactor

MLA

“defactor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defactor. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “defactor,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defactor.

Source: defactor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.