mar
To spoil or damage something.
mar in a sentence
- One clumsy scratch marred the shiny new car door.
- One patch of litter can mar the beauty of a whole beach.
Try an 11+ style question
Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.
Which word is closest in meaning to mar?
- Amend
- Bimprove
- Cfix
- Dspoil
Show the answer
D: spoil. The other three mean the opposite of mar.
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to mar?
- Aruin
- Bdamage
- Cimprove
- Dspoil
Show the answer
C: improve. The other three mean nearly the same as mar.
Words that mean something similar
spoil, ruin, damage
Words that mean the opposite
improve, fix, mend
More words about appearance & looks
- mottled: Covered in patches or spots of different colours.
- opulent: Very grand and expensive-looking.
- ornate: Decorated with lots of fancy patterns and details.
- ostentatious: Showy in a way that is meant to impress other people.
- outlandish: Very strange and unusual, almost unbelievable.
- parallel: Side by side and always the same distance apart, never meeting.
- peculiar: Strange or unusual.
- preen: To tidy and admire your own appearance.
More words to explore
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test