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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I got in there the idea of a strain with the Lakers, but I wanted to make sure to not defile that relationship based upon certain things that I wasn’t going to dig into.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 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
The route took us up the gently sloping floor of the Western Cwm, the highest box canyon on earth, a horseshoe-shaped defile gouged from the heart of the Everest massif by the Khumbu Glacier.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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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
Even as he builds his delegate count, he gains strength from the very groups he defiles.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 10, 2016
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
During Roof's trial the prosecution made sure to remind the jury that he had defiled a famous church.
From Salon ● Jul. 16, 2023
The sun was up, walking among clouds and long flags of smoke, but even the sunlight was defiled.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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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
Others see the mining as defiling the land on the reserve by polluting the waters, stripping bare the land, as well as upending centuries-old cultural traditions.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2022
"Without being able to arrest people, when we just fine them, they are probably making more money of the production of the things that are defiling the environment," the actor said in his welcome speech.
From Fox News ● Jun. 1, 2021
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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