All 3 Uses of
defile
in
The Fountainhead
- 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.†
Chpt 2.1defiling = spoiling the beauty or purity of something
- Not as love, but as defilement.†
Chpt 2.2 *defilement = the act of spoiling the beauty or purity of something
- He's defiled his own work by the first word you'll utter about it.†
Chpt 2.5defiled = spoiled the beauty or purity of something
Definitions:
-
(1)
(defile as in: it was defiled) to spoil 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
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely (but not uncommon in classic literature), defile can refer to a narrow valley or a march or passage through one.