defeature
UK/dɪˈfiːtjʊə(ɹ)/
defeature noun: defeat, overthrow, ruin.
Noun (1)
defeature
Verb
defeature (third-person singular simple present defeatures, present participle defeaturing, simple past and past participle defeatured)
- To deform.
Noun (2)
defeature (plural defeatures)
- Disfigurement, defacement, deformation.
- What ruins are in me that can be found, / By him not ruin'd? then is he the ground / of my defeatures.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...
- But no discovery was made, for no volley of reproach was uttered, and could they have looked in their mother's face they might have seen that strange defeatures were written there.1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 9
Forms of defeature
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | defeatures |
| present participle | defeaturing |
| past participle | defeatured |
| past | defeatured |
| Noun | |
| plural | defeatures |
Origin of defeature
From defeat + -ure.
From de- + feature.
Questions about defeature
- What does defeature mean?
- Defeature means defeat, overthrow, ruin.
- What part of speech is defeature?
- Defeature can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce defeature?
- Defeature is pronounced /dɪˈfiːtjʊə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of defeature?
- The plural of defeature is defeatures.
Words near defeature in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: defeature (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “defeature.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/defeature. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.