difformer

A rare, largely archaic verb meaning to deform or misshape — almost entirely displaced in modern French by déformer, which covers the same ground. Difformer survives mainly in old texts and the still-current adjective difforme (misshapen, deformed).

• La maladie avait difformé ses membres. — The disease had misshapen his limbs.
• Le vieux texte décrit un corps difformé par le travail. — The old text describes a body deformed by labor.
• Ces arbres, difformés par le vent, poussent tous penchés. — These trees, misshapen by the wind, all grow leaning over.

A modern French speaker would virtually always say déformer instead — using difformer today sounds archaic or like a mistake, even though the far more common adjective difforme is perfectly standard.

Often confused with déformer.