de ‧ face /dɪˈfeɪs/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
to spoil the surface or appearance of something, especially by writing on it or breaking it:
Most of the monuments had been broken or defaced.
—defacement noun [uncountable]
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THESAURUS
▪ damage to cause physical harm to something or someone, or have a bad effect on them:
Several buildings were damaged by the earthquake.
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The other car wasn’t damaged.
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The scandal could damage his career.
▪ harm to have a bad effect on something:
They use chemicals that will harm the environment.
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The oil crisis could harm the economy.
▪ spoil to have a bad effect on something and make it less successful, enjoyable, useful etc:
We didn’t let the rain spoil our holiday.
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Local people say the new buildings will spoil the view.
▪ vandalize to deliberately damage buildings, vehicles, or public property:
All the public telephones in the area had been vandalized.
▪ sabotage /ˈsæbətɑːʒ/ to secretly damage machines or equipment so that they cannot be used, especially in order to harm an enemy:
There is evidence that the airplane was sabotaged.
▪ tamper with something to deliberately and illegally damage or change a part of something in order to prevent it from working properly:
The car’s brakes had been tampered with.
▪ desecrate to damage a church or other holy place:
The church had been desecrated by vandals.
▪ deface /dɪˈfeɪs/ to deliberately spoil the appearance of something by writing on it, spraying paint on it etc:
Someone had defaced the statue and painted it bright orange.