different between deface vs repeal

English

Etymology

From Middle English defacen, from Old French defacier, desfacier (“to mutilate, destroy, disfigure”), from des- (“away from”) (see dis-) + Vulgar Latin *facia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??fe?s/, /di??fe?s/
• Rhymes: -e?s

Verb

deface (third-person singular simple present defaces, present participle defacing, simple past and past participle defaced)

1. To damage or vandalize something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.
   • 1869: George Eliot, The Legend of Jubal

     That wondrous frame where melody began / Lay as a tomb defaced that no eye cared to scan.

2. To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value of.

   He defaced the I.O.U. notes by scrawling "void" over them.

   • 1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

     One-and-twenty worn and defaced shillings, however, were considered as equivalent to a guinea, which perhaps, indeed, was worn and defaced too, but seldom so much so.

3. (heraldry, flags) To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.

   You get the Finnish state flag by defacing the national flag with the state coat of arms placed in the middle of the cross.

Synonyms

• (damage in a conspicuous way): disfigure, mar, obliterate, scar, vandalize
• (degrade the face value): cancel, devalue, nullify, void

Derived terms

• defacement

Translations

See also

• efface

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman repeler, from Old French rapeler (“to call back, call in, call after, revoke”), from Latin repell? (“drive or thrust back”), from re- and pell? (“push or strike”). Doublet of repel.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /???pi?l/
• Rhymes: -i?l

Verb

repeal (third-person singular simple present repeals, present participle repealing, simple past and past participle repealed)

1. (transitive) To cancel, invalidate, annul.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act I, Scene 1,^[1]

     […] I here divorce myself

     Both from thy table, Henry, and thy bed,

     Until that act of parliament be repeal’d

     Whereby my son is disinherited.

   • 1776, Samuel Johnson, letter to James Boswell, cited in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, 1791, p. 8,^[2]

     As manners make laws, manners likewise repeal them.

   • 1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, London: J.S. Jordan, p. 15,^[3]

     It requires but a very small glance of thought to perceive, that altho’ laws made in one generation often continue in force through succeeding generations, yet that they continue to derive their force from the consent of the living. A law not repealed continues in force, not because it cannot be repealed, but because it is not repealed; and the non-repealing passes for consent.

2. To recall; to summon (a person) again; to bring (a person) back from exile or banishment.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,^[4]

     There weepe, for till my Gaueston be repeald,

     Assure thy selfe thou comst not in my sight.

   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act II, Scene 2,^[5]

     The banish’d Bolingbroke repeals himself,

     And with uplifted arms is safe arrived […]

3. To suppress; to repel.
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 7, lines 59-60,^[6]

     Whence Adam soon repeal’d

     The doubts that in his heart arose.

Synonyms

• annul, cancel, invalidate, revoke, veto

Translations

Noun

repeal (plural repeals)

1. An act or instance of repealing.

Anagrams

• Lapeer, Leaper, leaper