mar

¹

[mahr]

verb (used with object)

marred, marring 

1. to damage or spoil to a certain extent; render less perfect, attractive, useful, etc.; impair or spoil.

   That billboard mars the view. The holiday was marred by bad weather.

   Synonyms: blot, injure, flaw
   Antonyms: adorn, enhance

2. to disfigure, deface, or scar.

   The scratch marred the table.

   Synonyms: blot, injure, flaw
   Antonyms: adorn, enhance

mar.

²

abbreviation

1. maritime.

2. married.

Mar.

³

abbreviation

1. March.

M.A.R.

⁴

abbreviation

1. Master of Arts in Religion.

mar

¹

/ mɑː /

verb

1. (tr) to cause harm to; spoil or impair

noun

1. a disfiguring mark; blemish

Mar

²

abbreviation

1. March

Other Word Forms

• unmarring adjective
• marrer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of mar¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English merren, Old English merran “to hinder, waste”; cognate with Old Saxon merrian, Old High German merren “to hinder,” Old Norse merja “to bruise,” Gothic marzjan “to offend”

Word History and Origins

Origin of mar¹

Old English merran; compare Old Saxon merrian to hinder, Old Norse merja to bruise

Synonym Study

Mar, deface, disfigure, deform agree in applying to some form of injury. Mar is general, but usually refers to an external or surface injury, if it is a physical one: The tabletop was marred by dents and scratches. Deface refers to a surface injury that may be temporary or easily repaired: a tablecloth defaced by penciled notations. Disfigure applies to external injury of a more permanent and serious kind: A birthmark disfigured one side of his face. Deform suggests that something has been distorted or internally injured so severely as to change its normal form or qualities, or else that some fault has interfered with its proper development: deformed by an accident that had crippled him; to deform feet by binding them.

Example Sentences

Potatoes need to be plucked from the ground and handled with care to prevent browning that can mar otherwise perfect chips.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The scorch marks from the fighting that day still mar the walls, and the underbrush of bullet-shattered tiles crackles with Messika’s every step.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Both groups said the executions followed routinely unfair trials that were marred by allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.

Read more on BBC

Then there were the self-inflicted mistakes, the very same ones that had marred the season to date.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Bergman’s production, marred by blasts of jarring folk music between scene transitions, is a little too on the nose.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• blight 
• bruise 
• harm 
• impair 
• ruin 
• scar 
• spoil 
• stain 
• sully 
• taint 
• tarnish 
• wreck 

When To Use

What does mar mean?

To mar something is to damage, spoil, deface, disfigure, or scar it—either literally (such as by scratching or making a mark on an object) or figuratively (such as by spoiling a party by getting into an argument).Mar is used somewhat more formally than many of its synonyms. Whether used literally or figuratively, it always refers to spoiling something by making it worse or less perfect than it was. Its figurative sense is more often used in writing (especially journalism) than in everyday speech. Mar can also be used as a noun, meaning a blemish, but this is less common.Example: The senator’s campaign event was unfortunately marred by people who wanted to disrupt the event by interrupting her speech.