3 uses
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Definition
to spoil the beauty or purity of something
in 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
- Not as love, but as defilement.2.2 — Part 2 Chapter 2 (68% in)
- She caught her breath at times from the sudden feeling that something magnificent and deadly would meet her beyond the next turn of the road; she could give no identity to what she expected, she could not say whether it was a sight, a person or an event; she knew only its quality—the sensation of a defiling pleasure.2.1 — Part 2 Chapter 1 (39% in)
- He's defiled his own work by the first word you'll utter about it.2.5 — Part 2 Chapter 5 (25% in)
There are no more uses of "defile" in The Fountainhead.
Typical Usage
(best examples)