defile
To make physically dirty or uncleanTo make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil.
» He who touches pitch shall be defiled therewith.
Wer Pech angreift, der besudelt sich damit.
Meaning
11 senses(transitive)To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil.
verunreinigen
па́чкатьpáčkatʹ, мара́тьmarátʹ, загрязня́тьzagrjaznjátʹ
make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically
(transitive)To make (someone or something) morally impure or unclean; to corrupt, to tarnish.
(transitive)To act inappropriately towards or vandalize (something sacred or special); to desecrate, to profane.
To urinate on someone’s grave is an example of a way to defile it.
(transitive)To cause (something or someone) to become ritually unclean.
(also, figuratively, rare, transitive)Synonym of defilade (“to fortify (something) as a protection from enfilading fire”).
(obsolete, transitive)To deprive (someone) of their sexual chastity or purity, often not consensually; to deflower, to rape.
The serial rapist kidnapped and defiled a six-year-old girl.
(obsolete, transitive)To dishonour (someone).
(intransitive, obsolete)To become dirty or unclean.
(intransitive, obsolete)To cause uncleanliness; specifically, to pass feces; to defecate.
(also, archaic, figuratively, intransitive)To march in a single file or line; to file.
дефилироватьdefilirovatʹ
(also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To march across (a place) in files or lines.
Examples
4 sentencesHe who touches pitch shall be defiled therewith.
deWer Pech angreift, der besudelt sich damit.
The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled.
deDie Seele voll süßen Entzückens kann nie befleckt werden.
I can't believe you would defile a gravestone!
Thou art poured out as water, grow thou not; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, and didst defile his couch.
Translations
5 languagesBy meaning 2
By meaning 1
Origin
From Late Middle English defilen (“to make dirty, befoul; rape; abuse; destroy; injure; opFrom Late Middle English defilen (“to make dirty, befoul; rape; abuse; destroy; injure; oppress”) [and other forms], a variant of defoulen (“to make dirty, defile, pollute; have sexual intercourse with; rape; etc.”) (compare also defoilen). Defoulen is a blend of Middle English foulen (“to make dirty, soil, pollute”) (from the adjective foul (“dirty, rotten, stinking, corrupt, sinful, guilty”) and Old English fūlian (“to decay”)), and Old French defoler, defouler (“to trample, crush; destroy”), from de- (intensifying prefix) + foler, fouler, fuller (“to trample, tread on; mistreat, oppress, destroy”) (from Vulgar Latin fullāre (“to full (make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating, and pressing)”), from Latin fullō (“person who fulls cloth, fuller”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to blow; to inflate, swell; to bloom, flower”) or Etruscan 𐌘𐌖𐌋𐌖 (φulu)). The English word is analysable as de- + file (“to corrupt; defile”).
The verb is borrowed from French défiler (“to arrange soldiers or fortify (something) as a protection from enfilading fire; to unthread”) (compare Middle French desfilher (“to unthread”)), from dé- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + enfiler (“to rake with gunfire, enfilade; to string on to a thread; to thread (a needle)”) (from en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into; on, on to’) + filer (verb) or file (noun); see etymology 2).
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Forms
defiles, defiling, defiled, defiledSynonyms
79 synonymsAntonyms
16 antonymsWord family
11 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle