deform
verb
Simple meaning
To change the form of, usually thus making it disordered or irregular.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
deefawrmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
diˈfɔɹm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual shape.
transitivealso figuratively
To change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual appearance.
Alter the shape of (something) by stress
“His body was deformed by leprosy.”
intransitive
To become changed in shape or misshapen.
“The sidewalk deformed during the earthquake.”
transitive
To mar the character or quality of (something).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual shape.
Used this way, deform is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Alterverb
“His body was deformed by leprosy.”
Becomeverb
“The sidewalk deformed during the earthquake.”
More ways to use deform
- “The heat deformed the plastic sculpture.”verb
- “His body was deformed by leprosy.”verb
- “The sidewalk deformed during the earthquake.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A change for the worse.
An affliction in which some part of the body is misshapen or malformed.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- deformationnoun
- curvaturenoun
- elasticitynoun
- elasticadjective
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to change the form of (something)
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.