noun
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a deformed condition; disfigurement
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pathol an acquired or congenital distortion of an organ or part
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a deformed person or thing
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a defect, esp of the mind or morals; depravity
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of deformity
1350–1400; Middle English deformite < Old French < Latin dēfōrmitās, equivalent to dēfōrm ( is ) deform 2 + -itās -ity
Explanation
A deformity happens when a body part is misshapen. A deformity can also be a change for the worse in something's appearance. A two-headed kitten has a deformity. Usually a deformity is the result of an accident or a genetic defect. Although most people want to avoid deformities, in the novel Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (1989), the mother of a circus family takes drugs while she’s pregnant, hoping to cause deformities in her children. She succeeds with her son Arturo, who has flippers instead of arms and legs. In his world, people with regular arms and legs have the deformity.
Vocabulary lists containing deformity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the journal of the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Centre, she found a report called “Congenital Limb Deformity in a Red Fox.”
From The New Yorker • Jun. 5, 2017
For more on the subject, read Senses of Touch: Human Dignity and Deformity from Michelangelo to Calvin, a philosophical and art-historical study of the human hand.
From Slate • Sep. 25, 2013
Deformity has been brought into beauty’s fold, a catalyst for justice rather than an affront to it.”
From New York Times • Nov. 13, 2012
Because of Mr. Ebers’s contributions and fund-raising, the hospital now has the Ebers Center for Foot Deformity.
From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2011
Nothing of all these, said he; but his Person was comely, which made his Age appear such as carried in it much Comeliness, but no Deformity.
From Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. by Erasmus, Desiderius
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
