Meanings
deform1
comparative more deform · superlative most deform
- obsolete except poeticHaving an unusual and unattractive shape; deformed, misshapen; hence, hideous, ugly.
Sight ſo deform what heart of Rock could long / Drie-ey’d behold?
1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 491-4924 more examples
[…] I did proclame, / That vvho ſo kild that monſter moſt deforme, / And him in hardy battayle ouercame, / Should haue mine onely daughter to his Dame, and of my kingdome heyre apparaunt bee: […]
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 20, page 176The common overgrown vvith fern, and rough / VVith prickly goſs, that ſhapeleſs and deform / And dang’rous to the touch, has yet its bloom / And decks itſelf vvith ornaments of gold, / Yields no unpleaſing ramble; […]
1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 28Angela the old / Died palsy-twitch’d, with meagre face deform; […]
1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza XLII, page 139[W]hat is wanting to success, / If somehow every face, no matter how deform, / Evidence, to some one of hearts on earth, that, warm / Beneath the veriest ash, there hides a spark of soul / Which, quickened by love's breath, may yet pervade the whole / O' the grey, and, free again, be fire?
1872, Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza 43, pages 49–50Synonyms: disfigured, distorted, shapeless, deformed, disfigured, distorted, malformed, misproportioned · Antonyms: attractive, beauteous, beautifool, beautiful, beautimous, bona vardering, bonnie, breathtaking
deform2
present singular third person deforms · participle present deforming · participle past deformed · past deformed
- transitiveTo change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual shape.
The chairs were also damaged, many of them severely; and deep indentations deformed the panels of the walls.
1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 3235 more examples
I that am curtaild of this faire proportion / Cheated of feature by diſſembling nature, / Deformd, vnfinisht, ſent before my time / Into this breathing vvorld ſcarce halfe made vp, / And that ſo lamely and vnfaſhionable, / That dogs barke at me as I halt by them: […]
c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]They ſay this tovvne is full of coſenage: / As nimble Iuglers that deceiue the eie: / Darke vvorking Sorcerers that change the minde: / Soule-killing VVitches, that deforme the bodie: […]
c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 87, column 1[Y]ou muſt take care to keep the Bitt ſtraight to the Hole you pierce, leſt you deform the Hole, or break the Bitt.
1678, Joseph Moxon, “Continued in the Art of Joynery”, in Mechanick Exercises: Or, The Doctrine of Handy-works. […], 2nd edition, number II, London: […] J[oseph] Moxon, […], published 1693, →OCLC, § 22 (Of the Piercer), page 90Me Pallas gave to lead the martial ſtorm, / And the fair ranks of battle to deform: / Me, Mars inſpir'd to turn the foe to flight, / And tempt the ſecret ambuſh of the night.
1725, Homer, “Book XIV”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 249, lines 251–254Your master, Poole, is plainly seized with one of those maladies that both torture and deform the sufferer; hence, for aught I know, the alteration of his voice; hence the mask and his avoidance of his friends; […]
1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Last Night”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 75-76 - alsofigurativelytransitiveTo change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual appearance.
a face deformed by bitterness
5 more examples
Shortly vnto the vvaſtefull vvoods ſhe came, / VVhereas ſhe found the Goddeſſe vvith her crevv, / […] / Some of them vvaſhing vvith the liquid devv / From of their dainty limbs the duſty ſvveat, / And ſoyle vvhich did deforme their liuely hevv, […]
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 17, pages 482–483The yeare next enſuing he [Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset] invaded the Scottiſh borders, waſted Tinedale & the marches and deformed the country with ruine and ſpoile.
a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC, page 16[E]re Sun-riſe, his [Khusrau Mirza's] afflicted vvife (Cavvn Azems daughter) goes to viſit him; vvhere finding him ſpeechleſſe, and (by his contus'd face) murdered; never did poore vvretch ſhed more teares, or ſhevv more paſſion; by tearing her faire hayre, deforming her ſvveet face ſo fiercely, ſo amazedly, that her Father and all his family heare her, and ſee it to their griefe and admiration.
1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book I, page 80Still to deform thy gentle Brovv vvith Frovvns! / And ſtill to be perverſe! It is a manner / Abhorrent from the ſoftneſs of thy Sex: […]
1702, N[icholas] Rowe, Tamerlane. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 62The [Native American] private men fought naked; their faces and bodies being deformed with paint, in order to terrify the enemy.
1774, Hen[ry] Home, “Sketch XII. Origin and Progress of American Nations.”, in Sketches of the History of Man. […], volume II (Progress of Men in Society), Edinburgh: […] W[illiam] Creech, […]; and for W[illiam] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 89 - transitiveTo mar the character or quality of (something).
a marriage deformed by jealousy
5 more examples
[Y]our beautie Ladies / Hath much deformed vs, faſhioning our humours / Euen to the oppoſed ende of our ententes.
c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]But, Sʳ, I will no longer tire your patience wᵗʰ these monsters (the subject of every contemptuous pamphlet) then with the madness of the Anabaptists, Quakers, Fift Monarchy-men, and a cento of unheard of heresies besides, which, at present, deform the once renowned Church of England, and approach so little to the pretended Reformation, which we in France have been made to believe, that there is nothing more heavenly wide.
1659, John Evelyn, “A Character of England, as It was Lately Presented in a Letter to a Nobleman of France. […] The Third Edition.”, in William Upcott, compiler, The Miscellaneous Writings of John Evelyn, […], London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1825, →OCLC, page 156It made me tremble a little […] to think what a sad thing Passion is, when Way is given to its ungovernable Tumults, and how it deforms and debases the noblest Minds!
1742, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXII”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; and sold by C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 240VVomen in vain to keep their place have ſtriven; / From ev’ry trade, from each profeſſion driven. / […] / VVhile narrow prejudice deform’d the age, / No actreſs play’d, no female trod the ſtage; / […] / But vvoman once brought forvvard on the ſcene, / By man, like Eve, vvas lik’d as ſoon as ſeen.
1772, [George] Colman, “Prologue, Written by Mr. Colman, and Spoken by Mrs. Bulkley”, in [Elizabeth] Griffith, A Wife in the Right: A Comedy, London: […] Mess. E[dward] and C[harles] Dilly, […], J. Robson, […], and J. Walter, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene iiWithout dragging into the account the thousand and one sins that disgrace and deform society, it will be sufficient to look into the single interest of civilized warfare, in order to make our case.
1848, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter X, in The Oak Openings; or, The Bee-hunter. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Burgess, Stringer, & Co., →OCLC, page 149 - intransitiveTo become changed in shape or misshapen.
If I answer that metal’s hard and shiny and cold to the touch and deforms without breaking under blows from a harder material, [David] Hume says those are all sights and sounds and touch. There’s no substance. Tell me what metal is apart from these sensations. Then, of course, I’m stuck.
1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, chapter 11, in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow & Company, →ISBN, part II, page 133
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHaving an unusual and unattractive shape; deformed, misshapen; hence, hideous, ugly.
verbTo change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual shape.
verbTo alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress.
verbTo change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual appearance.
More synonyms by meaning
verbcause (an object) to assume a crooked or angular form
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
deform · adjective
- Latindēfōrmis“departing physically from the correct shape, deformed, malformed, misshapen, ugly; (figuratively) departing morally from the correct quality, base, disgraceful, shameful, unbecoming”
- Middle Frenchdeforme
- Middle Englishdeforme“out of shape, deformed”
- Englishdeform
From Middle English deforme (“out of shape, deformed”) [and other forms], from Middle French deforme (modern French difforme (“misshapen, deformed”)), or directly from its etymon Latin dēfōrmis (“departing physically from the correct shape, deformed, malformed, misshapen, ugly; (figuratively) departing morally from the correct quality, base, disgraceful, shameful, unbecoming”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; from’) + fōrma (“form, appearance, figure, shape; fine form, beauty; design, outline, plan; model, pattern; mould, stamp; (figuratively) kind, manner, sort”) (further etymology unknown; perhaps related to Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape; appearance; outline; kind, type”), probably from Pre-Greek, but there is no consensus) + -is (suffix forming adjectives of the third declension).
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →deform · verb
- Latindēfōrmāre
- Old Frenchdeformer
- Middle Englishdeformen“to disfigure, distort, or mar; (figuratively) to disfigure morally; to defame; to dishonour”
- Englishdeform
From Middle English deformen (“to disfigure, distort, or mar; (figuratively) to disfigure morally; to defame; to dishonour”) [and other forms], equivalent to de- + form, from Old French deformer [and other forms] (modern French déformer (“to contort, distort, twist out of shape; (figuratively) to pervert”)), or directly from its etymon Latin dēfōrmāre (whence Medieval Latin difformāre), the present active infinitive of dēfōrmō (“to fashion, form; to delineate, describe; to design; to deform, disfigure; to mar, spoil”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; from’) + fōrmō (“to fashion, form, shape; to format”) (from fōrma (noun); see further at etymology 1). Cognates * Catalan deformar (“to deform”) * Italian deformare (“to deform; to distort, warp”) * Occitan deformar * Portuguese deformar (“to deform”) * Spanish deformar, desformar (“to deform, disfigure”)
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian деформирам, обезобразявам
- деформирам (deformiram)to alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- обезобразявам (obezobrazjavam)to change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- деформирам се (deformiram se)to become changed in shape or misshapen
- деформирам (deformiram)to change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Catalan deformar
- deformarto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Danish deformere, deformere
- deformereto alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- deformereto become changed in shape or misshapen
- deformereto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Finnish muovata, deformoida
- muovatato alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- deformoidato alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- tärvelläto change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- turmellato change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- tärvelläto mar the character or quality of (something)
- rusentuato become changed in shape or misshapen
- vääntyäto become changed in shape or misshapen
- rumentaato change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
- runnellato change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
- turmellato change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
French déformer
- déformerto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Hungarian deformál, megváltoztatja az alakját
- deformálto alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- megváltoztatja az alakjátto alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- elcsúfítto change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- eltorzítto change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- eldeformálódikto become changed in shape or misshapen
- deformálódikto become changed in shape or misshapen
- eldeformálto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
- deformálto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
- elrontja az alakjátto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Italian deformare
- deformareto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Japanese 歪める
- 歪める (yugameru)to change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Polish deformować, odkształcać
- deformowaćto change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- odkształcaćto change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- odkształcićto change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- odkształcać sięto become changed in shape or misshapen
- odkształcić sięto become changed in shape or misshapen
- odkształcaćto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
- odkształcićto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Portuguese deformar, deformar
- deformarto change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- deformarto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Spanish desformar, disformar
- desformarto alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- disformarto alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- deformarseto become changed in shape or misshapen
- disformarseto become changed in shape or misshapen
- desformarseto become changed in shape or misshapen
- deformarto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
- desformarto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
- disformarto change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Swedish deformera, deformera
- deformerato alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- deformerato become changed in shape or misshapen
- deformerato change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Ukrainian деформува́ти, деформува́ти
- деформува́ти (deformuváty)to alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress
- деформува́ти (deformuváty)to change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- спотво́рювати (spotvórjuvaty)to change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- спотво́рити (spotvóryty)to change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive
- деформува́ти (deformuváty)to mar the character or quality of (something)
- спотво́рювати (spotvórjuvaty)to mar the character or quality of (something)
- спотво́рити (spotvóryty)to mar the character or quality of (something)
- деформува́ти (deformuváty)to change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with deform
Cite this entry
deform. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deform
“deform.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deform. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “deform,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deform.
Source: deform on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.