Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎨 A vandal 💻 A hacker vandal
defacer

defacer

7.5
A person who damages public walls and buildings by writing or painting on them
  • noun
  • /dɪˈfeɪsər/
translation icon : vandal
  • The defacer spray-painted graffiti on the historical building, leaving a permanent mark.

Examples

  • After the defacer struck again, the city hired professionals to remove the unsightly vandalism.

  • The local community organized a cleanup event to restore the damage caused by a defacer in the park.

  • Have at it, all you casual defacers and defilers, all you helpful teachers—you certainly won't be the first, and you certainly won't be the last.

    Blog text (28)

Synonyms

vandal
vsdefacer
22 4.0

A person who damages public or private property on purpose

focuses on spoiling appearance, often by marking surfaces
tamperer
vsdefacer
1 7.5

A person who secretly changes something without permission

damages appearance openly rather than secretly altering functionality

Antonyms

restorer
6 5.0

A skilled person who repairs old buildings, paintings or furniture to look like new

preserver
2 4.7

A person who protects people, traditions, or objects to keep them safe

How Damaging

destroyer
39 5.5
vandal
22 4.0
defacer
7.5
tagger
1 6.3

Surface Forms

defacer singular
defacers plural

Morphology

defacer = deface (transparent) = deface + er

A straightforward agentive formation: 'deface' + '-er' = 'one who defaces'.

Etymology

Defacer comes from the parts de- 'remove' and face 'appearance'. So a defacer is someone who spoils the face or look of a building or object, for example by painting graffiti or scratching surfaces.