mar

«mar» in Mova's school dictionary: To spoil or damage something, making it less good or less… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (mar, mars, marred, marring)

meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) To spoil or damage something, making it less good or less beautiful. tree →

2) (Mar.) Short for March, the month, in lists and calendars. tree →

3) Mar! is an old shout meaning 'hit him, hit him!' tree →

sense in the lessons

Used mainly in writing and news: «the match was marred by rain», «the picture was marred by a scratch». It tells the reader something good was partly ruined. In everyday talk people say «spoil» or «ruin». Phrases: marred by, make or mar (old saying).

examples

• Rain marred our sports day. tree →
• A deep scratch marred the shiny table. tree →
• The party was marred by an argument. tree →
• Nothing could mar her happiness. tree →
• Litter marred the beautiful beach. tree →
• One mistake marred an otherwise perfect test. tree →
• The holiday was marred by a stomach bug. tree →
• Graffiti marred the new wall. tree →
• Mar! (Hit him, hit him!) Mind the post! tree →

note

Verb forms double the r: marred, marring. Formal/written; casual talk: spoil, ruin, wreck. «Mar» is also an abbreviation of March in lists; that is not the verb. Do not confuse with «ma» (mum) or «mare» (female horse).

In the corpora

• Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
• Thus saith the LORD: After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem,

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «mar» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.