defile

Happy anniversary from a California native who fell in love with the coast at first sight, and shame on those who would defile it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

A soldier who requested anonymity explained to AFP that since then the body had been guarded around the clock "so that rival groups do not defile him."

From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 2026

Some Parisians backed the move, but others - including heritage campaigners - said it was a bad idea and would "defile" the French capital's iconic monument.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024

Protesters blocked construction crews in 2015 and 2019, saying building a new telescope there would further defile a site that they say has already been harmed by a dozen other observatories.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2022

They went cautiously, moving as silent as man and horse could move, retracing their steps until they reached the mouth of a narrow defile where an icy little stream emerged from between two mountains.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

"It is time to realize that fundamentalism defiles and corrupts every creed," he said.

From Reuters ● Sep. 14, 2022

In the name of personalization, she says, “it defiles, ignores, overrides and displaces everything about you and me that is personal.”

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 11, 2019

Even as he builds his delegate count, he gains strength from the very groups he defiles.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 10, 2016

If Wood defiles this terrain, he does so by not describing it as vibrantly as you might hope.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2016

The boys chose their way through defiles and over heaps of sharp stone.

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

The writer Octavio Paz, the Mexican Nobel laureate, denounced Malinche as a kind of malevolent Eve whose submission to Cortés forever defiled Mexico’s mixed identity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026

Close friend Jo Peraldi finds it hard to believe that a day of high emotion surrounding the funeral of Orsoni's mother could have been defiled in such a way.

From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2026

The Seleucids captured the holy Temple of Jerusalem and defiled it by erecting an altar to the Greek god Zeus inside.

From National Geographic ● Dec. 7, 2023

Here was a natural wonder on par with the Grand Canyon, defiled by capitalism.

From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2020

They prayed: “O city of Athena, help us, so that the laws of justice shall not be defiled and through all lands the helpless and oppressed shall be delivered.”

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Coming to grips with the experience of that landscape was a major turning point in my understanding about the degree to which we as a species are capable of defiling our planet.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2023

Let’s start with the users defiling the site with parodies of Musk and prominent corporations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2022

That meant a lot to all of us in this community who were dismayed to see hateful messages defiling a shared space where our kids play.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 30, 2022

"This is a defiling a classic," said another.

From Reuters ● Feb. 13, 2022

We are all our beautiful bodies and so must never be prostrate before barbarians, must never submit our original self, our one of one, to defiling and plunder.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates