Link Centre Dictionary

deform

de·form

UK/dɪˈfɔːm/ US/dəˈfɔɹm/ uncommon

verb

1.

make formless

  • “the heat deformed the plastic sculpture”
Antonyms
2.

twist and press out of shape

3.

cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form

  • “bend the rod”
  • “twist the dough into a braid”
  • “the strong man could turn an iron bar”
Antonyms
4.

become misshapen

  • “The sidewalk deformed during the earthquake”
5.

alter the shape of (something) by stress

  • “His body was deformed by leprosy”

Origin

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”)

Related words

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.