defile Hear it!

defile¹ Definition

de·file (dē fīl′, di-)

transitive verb -·filed′, -·fil′·ing

  1. to make filthy or dirty; pollute
  2. to make ceremonially unclean
  3. to corrupt
  4. to profane or sully (as a person's name)
  5. Archaic to violate the chastity of; deflower

Etymology: ME defilen, altered (by assoc. with filen, to make foul < OE fylan < ful, foul) < defoulen < OFr defouler, to tread underfoot, insult < de-, intens. + fouler < ML fullare, to tread, full

defile¹ Related Forms
de·file′·ment noun de·fil′er noun
defile² Definition

de·file (dē fīl′, di-; dē′fīl′)

intransitive verb -·filed′, -·fil′·ing

to march in single file or by files

Etymology: Fr défiler, to file off, unravel < dé- (L de), from + filer, to form a line < fil, thread: see file

noun

  1. a narrow passage through which troops must defile
  2. any narrow valley or mountain pass
  3. a march in single file or by files

Etymology: Fr défilé < the v.

defile Synonyms

defile

v.

  1. To corrupt

    debase, pollute, besmirch, contaminate; see contaminate, corrupt 1, dirty.

  2. To violate

    dishonor, sully, desecrate, deflower; see disgrace, profane, rape. See syn. study at contaminate.

defile Usage Examples

Object

  • yourselves: You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.
  • temple: If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
  • land: Deuteronomy 21:23 is purely Persian in forbidding a crucified man from being allowed to defile the sacred land.
  • man: All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.
  • food: If any were not willing to eat defiling food, they were to be broken on the wheel and killed.
  • place: And beside, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.

Converse of object

  • enter: As we entered the defile saw a gray horse of the 7th D.G. which had been shot in the shoulder.

Subject

  • sin: Here man is defiled by many sins, ensnared in many passions, enslaved by many fears, and burdened with many cares.

Adjective modifier

  • narrow: Finally, a narrow defile, a passage barely a mile across was found.
  • rocky: I now seem to be borne along on the tide of a tempestuous torrent, through rocky defiles and beneath frowning precipices.
  • deep: The McGillicuddy's Reeks gather so hard about that the deep defile can be perceived from a great distance.

Modifying Another Word

  • not: Are you among the few who have not defiled their garments?
  • ritually: You were considered ' unclean ' or ritually defiled by contracting a skin disease ( Numbers 5:2-3 ).
  • therewith: As the Good Book says, " He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith.
  • somehow: Tegan bit her lip, feeling uncertain, somehow defiled.
  • thus: God have mercy upon the world when the church itself becomes thus defiled!
  • all: He sees men all defiled by coarse thoughts, coarse ways of living cruelties.

Preposition: with

  • blood: For too long our land has been defiled with the blood of innocents shed in abortion clinics.
  • sin: Are you defiled with sin and loathsome in your iniquity?

Preposition: by

  • sin: Here man is defiled by many sins, ensnared in many passions, enslaved by many fears, and burdened with many cares.
defile Quotes

For I am the L your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

—Bible (Old Testament)

   Nor one feeling of vengeance presumed to defile The cause, or the men, or the Emerald Isle.

—Drennan,William