deformityn.
/dɪˈfɔːmɪti/ 1. The quality or condition of being marred or disfigured in appearance; disfigurement; unsightliness, ugliness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > lack of beauty > ugliness > [noun]
uglinessc1340
foulnessa1398
dishonestyc1400
deformityc1450
laidure1483
ugsomeness1483
evilfavouredness1535
ill-favouredness1565
hard-favouredness1585
deformedness1588
disgrace1596
unsightliness1611
disfavour1706
hard-featuredness1839
eye-soreness1883
c1450 Crt. of Love clxvii For other have their ful shape and beaute, And we..ben in deformite.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 431/1 Wythout abhomynacion of dyfformyte ne of ordure or fylthe.
?1518 A. Barclay Fyfte Eglog sig. Biiijv No faute with moryans, is blacke dyfformyte, Because all the sorte, lyke of theyr fauour be.
1530 J. Rastell New Bk. Purgatory iii. viii. sig. g [The linen cloths] had no such spottes nor tokens of deformyte to the eye.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 261 Lastly, they cleanse themselves with purer water, supposing all contaminated deformitie washt off.
1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall iv. 53 Christians have handsomely glossed the deformity of death, by careful consideration of the body, and civil rites.
1765 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) I. v. 114 Beautifull Gothic architecture was engrafted on Saxon deformity.
1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 107 To prevent the propagation of disease [small-pox], and its consequent effects, deformity.
2. The quality or condition of being deformed or misshapen; esp. bodily misshapenness or malformation; abnormal formation of the body or of some bodily member.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [noun]
deformityc1440
disformitya1513
informity1583
misshapenness1587
misshapedness1610
pravity1647
misshapement1653
malconformation1776
c1440 Gesta Romanorum (Add. MS.) lxxviii. 396 A dwerfe of a litill stature, hauyng..a bose in his back, ande crokide fete..ande full of alle diformyte.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. xxii Edmunde..surnamed crowke backe..was put by by ye meane of his Fadre for his deformytye.
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. x. 157 But how can mater be without forme, seeing that euen deformitie it selfe is a kinde of forme?
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. i. 27 To spie my shadow in the sunne, And descant on mine owne deformity . View more context for this quotation
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. ii. 57 Blush blush thou lumpe of foule deformity . View more context for this quotation
1643 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (authorized ed.) i. §16 The Chaos: wherin..to speak strictly, there was no deformity, because no forme. View more context for this quotation
1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 16 Jan. (1965) I. 294 Their fondness for these pieces of deformity [sc. dwarfs].
1801 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 5 41 In cases of deformity of the pelvis.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. i. 22 Rightly clad, he is a lump of deformity waddling over the ice.
3.
a. (with a and plural) An instance of deformity; a disfigurement or malformation; now usually spec. a malformation of the body or of some bodily member or organ.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > [noun]
crookedness1398
monstruosity1402
deformity1413
misfashioning1469
misfigurec1480
counterfeiturec1500
monstrosity1616
pravity1647
monstruousness1653
malformation1769
misformation1822
dysmorphia1848
misshape1867
aplasia1885
nanity1892
1413 J. Lydgate Pilgr. of Sowle (1859) ii. xlv. 52 The fowle spottys, and wonderful defourmytees, whiche he shold apperceyuen in his owne persone.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball iv. lvii. 518 Sonne burning, and other suche deformities of the face.
a1662 P. Heylyn Cyprianus Angl. (1671) i. 204 Those deformities in it [St. Paul's] which by long time had been contracted.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature V. 382 Others..carry..maladies and deformities about them, from the cradle to the grave.
1807 S. Cooper First Lines Pract. Surg. I. ii. xxvii. 322 The tumour itself..creates no particular inconvenience, only deformity.
b. transferred. A deformed being or thing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > lack of beauty > [noun] > lack of shapeliness > unshapely or deformed thing or person
deformity1698
shape1700
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 44 Their Gods..were cut in horrid Shapes.. to represent the Divinity..yet I cannot imagine such Deformities could ever be invented for that end.
1817 Ld. Byron Manfred i. i. 13 A bright deformity on high, The monster of the upper sky!
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby viii. 67 Children with the countenances of old men, deformities with irons upon their limbs.
4.
a. figurative. Moral disfigurement, ugliness, or crookedness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > crookedness > [noun]
crookednessc1380
deformityc1400
turningnessa1586
indirectiona1616
obliquitya1620
curvity1620
tortuosity1621
indirectness1628
unsinglenessa1658
unstraightness1693
tortuousness1824
underhandedness1884
society > morality > moral evil > [noun] > moral repulsiveness or deformity
deformityc1400
ugliness1601
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (Roxb.) xxi. 141 Purged and clene of all vice and alkyn deformitee.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. (1634) i. xv. 74 The corruption and deformitie of our nature.
1696 G. Stanhope tr. Thomas à Kempis Christian's Pattern (1711) 71 If the deformity of his neighbour's actions happen to represent that of his own.
1741 C. Middleton Hist. Life Cicero II. vii. 109 The deformity of Pompey's conduct.
1860 R. W. Emerson Behaviour in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 153 It held bad manners up, so that the churls could see the deformity.
b. (with a and plural) A moral disfigurement.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > corruption > [noun] > stain of, defilement
wem?c1225
tachec1330
tackc1425
imposthume1565
deformityc1571
society > morality > moral evil > [noun] > moral repulsiveness or deformity > instance of
deformityc1571
c1571 E. Campion Two Bks. Hist. Ireland (1963) ii. v. 89 They declyned nowe to suche intollerable deformityes of life and other supersticious errors.
1576 A. Fleming tr. C. Plinius Novocomensis in Panoplie Epist. 248 I supposed it a great deformitie, and disorder.
1705 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels I. 22 Those Vicious Habits which are a Deformity to Christians.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 333 Cromwell had tried to correct the deformities of the representative system.
5. Misused for difformity n., difference or diversity of form; want of uniformity or conformity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [noun] > variety of form or non-uniformity
deformitya1544
difformity1580
inequability1581
disformity1600
irregularness1609
inconstancy1613
inconformity1625
inequality1626
irregularity1646
nonconformity1672
anomaly1686
disuniformity1710
ununiformness1716
ununiformity1749
heteromorphism1839
non-uniformity1852
raggedness1882
a1544 H. Latimer Let. in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1563) 1331/1 Better it were to haue a deformitie in preaching..then to haue suche a vniformityee that the sely people shoulde..continue still in..ignoraunce.
a1623 W. Pemble Vindiciæ Gratiæ (1627) 72 The greatest deformity and disagreement..betweene his knowledge..and his application thereof to practice.
a1708 W. Beveridge Private Thoughts Relig. (1709) 21 This deformity to the Will and Nature of GOD, is that which we call Sin.
a1782 Ld. Kames Elements Crit. (1785) II. xxv. 490 A remarkable uniformity among creatures of the same kind, and a deformity [ed. 4 difformity] no less remarkable among creatures of different kinds.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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