SuaviloquyToday’s word

mar

Mar, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Marred (märd); p. pr. & vb. n. Marring.]

Etymology: [OE. marren, merren, AS. merran, myrran (in comp.), to obstruct, impede, dissipate; akin to OS. merrian, OHG. marrjan, merran; cf. D. marren, meeren, to moor a ship, Icel. merja to bruise, crush, and Goth. marzjan to offend. Cf. Moor, v.]

1. To make defective; to do injury to, esp. by cutting off or defacing a part; to impair; to disfigure; to deface. I pray you mar no more trees with wiring love songs in their barks. Shak. But mirth is marred, and the good cheer is lost. Dryden. Ire, envy, and despair Which marred all his borrowed visage. Milton.

2. To spoil; to ruin. "It makes us, or it mars us." "Striving to mend, to mar the subject." Shak.

2 other Webster entries under this spelling

Mar, n.

A small lake. See Mere. [Prov. Eng.]

Mar, n.

A mark or blemish made by bruising, scratching, or the like; a disfigurement.

Shades of meaning

Fernald lists mar only as an antonym, under adorn, amend, do.

He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.

Synonyms

none given

Antonyms