Library / English Dictionary

DEFORM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Assume a different shape or form

Synonyms:

change form; change shape; deform

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "deform" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deform"):

bug out; bulge; bulge out; come out; pop; pop out; protrude; start (bulge outward)

extend; stretch; stretch out; unfold (extend or stretch out to a greater or the full length)

bend; flex (form a curve)

bend; deform; flex; turn; twist (cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form)

distort; twine; twist (form into a spiral shape)

batter; dinge (make a dent or impression in)

deform (become misshapen)

draw (contract)

flatten; flatten out (become flat or flatter)

furl; roll up (form into a cylinder by rolling)

point; sharpen; taper (give a point to)

bulge; pouch; protrude (swell or protrude outwards)

grain; granulate (become granular)

roll (take the shape of a roll or cylinder)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

deformation (alteration in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of the application of stress to it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Alter the shape of (something) by stress

Example:

His body was deformed by leprosy

Synonyms:

deform; distort; strain

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "deform" is one way to...):

form; shape (give shape or form to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deform"):

jaundice (distort adversely)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

deformation (alteration in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of the application of stress to it)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Become misshapen

Example:

The sidewalk deformed during the earthquake

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "deform" is one way to...):

change form; change shape; deform (assume a different shape or form)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

deformation (alteration in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of the application of stress to it)

deformation (a change for the worse)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form

Example:

the strong man could turn an iron bar

Synonyms:

bend; deform; flex; turn; twist

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "deform" is one way to...):

change form; change shape; deform (assume a different shape or form)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deform"):

dent; indent (make a depression into)

incurvate (cause to curve inward)

gnarl (twist into a state of deformity)

crank (bend into the shape of a crank)

convolute; convolve (curl, wind, or twist together)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They deform the glass tubes

Derivation:

deformation (the act of twisting or deforming the shape of something (e.g., yourself))

deformation (alteration in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of the application of stress to it)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Twist and press out of shape

Synonyms:

contort; deform; distort; wring

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "deform" is one way to...):

distort; twine; twist (form into a spiral shape)

Verb group:

wrench; wring (twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish)

wring (twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "deform"):

morph (change shape as via computer animation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

deformation (the act of twisting or deforming the shape of something (e.g., yourself))

deformation (alteration in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of the application of stress to it)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Make formless

Example:

the heat deformed the plastic sculpture

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "deform" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

deformation (alteration in the shape or dimensions of an object as a result of the application of stress to it)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Type 1 (NF1) causes skin changes and deformed bones. It usually starts in childhood. Sometimes the symptoms are present at birth.

(Neurofibromatosis, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Late yaws is characterized by destructive and deforming lesions of the skin, bones, and joints.

(Late Yaws, NCI Thesaurus)

River of ice that under pressure can deform and flow plastically.

(Glacier, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

A condition in children in which bones become soft and deformed because they don’t have enough calcium and phosphorus.

(Infantile rickets, NCI Dictionary)

The deformed cells can block blood flow, causing severe pain, organ damage, and stroke.

(Stem cell transplant reverses sickle cell disease in adults, NIH)

Their shape was very singular and deformed, which a little discomposed me, so that I lay down behind a thicket to observe them better.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Many of them carried sticks, and at the distance they looked like a line of very hairy and deformed human beings.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The pull makes a glacier both slide on its base and deform, or "creep" - a slow movement caused by ice crystals slipping past one another under the pressure of the glacier's weight.

(NASA Finds Asian Glaciers Slowed by Ice Loss, NASA)

As I did so I struck against an elderly, deformed man, who had been behind me, and I knocked down several books which he was carrying.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)