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Definition
to dirty the beauty or purity of somethingin various senses, including:
- pollute a pristine lake
- harm a reputation or good name
- damage or disrespect something sacred
- take a person's virginity in a disrespectful way
More rarely (but not uncommon in classic literature), defile can refer to a narrow valley or a march or passage through one.
- She believes any non-Muslim in Saudi Arabia defiles the holy land.
defiles = dirties the beauty or purity of
- They defiled the river by emptying raw sewage into it.
- She spread false rumors to defile my good name.
- They were charged with abduction with the intent to defile.
- They were conquered and their temples defiled.
- When false opinion, whose wrong thought defiles thee,Shakespeare -- King Lear
- Like maggots they had swarmed defilingly over the mystery of Linda's death.Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World
- Since the Humans came into the land, felling forests and defiling streams, the Dryads and Naiads have sunk into a deep sleep.C.S. Lewis -- Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
- "I ate civilization." ... "It poisoned me; I was defiled."Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World
- ...that beautiful, beautiful Other Place, whose memory, as of a heaven, a paradise of goodness and loveliness, he still kept whole and intact, undefiled by contact with the reality of this real London, these actual civilized men and women.Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World
- "Orgy-porgy!" said Bernard, interrupting the reading with a loud, unpleasant laugh.
...
He was revenging himself on his two friends for liking one another more than they liked him.
...
It was simple and, since both Helmholtz and the Savage were dreadfully pained by the shattering and defilement of a favourite poetic crystal, extremely effective.Aldous Huxley -- Brave New World - She weeps when she looks down the long dreary vista of time and beholds in horror the spectacle of Limerick boys defiling themselves, polluting themselves, interfering with themselves, abusing themselves, soiling their young bodies, which are the temples of the Holy Ghost.Frank McCourt -- Angela's Ashes
- To defile it, to twist its power.Nora Roberts -- Blood Brothers
- I only desired he would lend me two clean shirts, which, having been washed since he wore them, I believed would not so much defile me.Jonathan Swift -- Gulliver's Travels
- It's amazing how quickly he can defile a space.Suzanne Collins -- Mockingjay
- It is my mind and soul that he has tortured and defiled.Arthur Conan Doyle -- The Hound of the Baskervilles
- Nor could the litter be set down, lest it defiled the temple by becoming a throne.E.M. Forster -- A Passage to India
- The sight of the well-known objects that defiled before her eyes gradually diverted Emma from her present trouble.Gustave Flaubert -- Madame Bovary
- She passed through hours of unintelligible shame and impotent rage and futile striving to reason away her defilement.Zane Grey -- The Light of Western Stars
- Besides, I've defiled enough future historical sites for now.Andy Weir -- The Martian
defiled = polluted
defile = harm a reputation
defile = sexually assault
defiled = violated (the sacredness of something)
defilingly = in a manner that dirtied the beauty or purity of something
defiling = dirtying the beauty or purity of something
defiled = made more dirty and impure
undefiled = unspoiled
(editor's note: The prefix "un-" in undefiled means not and reverses the meaning of defiled. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.)
defilement = to dirty the beauty or purity of something
defiling = to dirty the beauty or purity of something