defile
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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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
“We can’t just take, defile and desecrate someone’s body without consent,” Numa says.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2024
A fierce man had burst into the room and shouted, How dare you defile this house?
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
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As mixed as I am on the film itself, I appreciate that the Academy is embracing not just a horror movie, but a gleeful Grand Guignol that defiles the Walk of Fame twice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2025
"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
There is a fine line between reflecting the concerns of voters and performing a crude and offensive imitation that mocks and defiles their deepest beliefs.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2015
The boys chose their way through defiles and over heaps of sharp stone.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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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
And I witnessed wave after wave of students taking skyward photos of their feet pressed against the Washington Monument, the venerable memorial defiled by dirty shoes and reduced to an Instagram prop.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2022
Besides, I've defiled enough future historical sites for now.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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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
The song's title is a reference to the Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with "Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class".
From BBC ● May 30, 2022
"I don't want to reinforce that defiling the Capitol was OK. I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future," he told CBS.
From Reuters ● Jan. 31, 2022
He hid his terror in his heart, however, and addressed the stranger: “What country is your fatherland? No hateful and defiling lies, I beg you. Tell me the truth.”
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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Vocabulary lists containing defile
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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Grade 9, List 3
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The House of the Scorpion
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