defile

See also: defilé, défile, défilé, and defilè

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈfaɪl/
• Rhymes: -aɪl

Etymology 1

From Middle English defilen ‎(“to make dirty”), alteration (due to Middle English defoulen, defoilen ‎(“to trample, abuse”)) of Middle English befilen ‎(“to defile, make foul”), from Old English befȳlan ‎(“to befoul, defile”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- + *fūlijaną ‎(“to defile, make filthy”). Cognate with Dutch bevuilen ‎(“to defile, soil”). More at be-, file, foul.

Verb

defile ‎(third-person singular simple present defiles, present participle defiling, simple past and past participle defiled)

1. (transitive) to make impure; to make dirty.

Synonyms

• contaminate
• pollute

Antonyms

• clean
• purify

Translations

to make impure or dirty

• Bulgarian: опетнявам (bg) ‎(opetnjavam), осквернявам (bg) ‎(oskvernjavam)
• Catalan: embrutar (ca), contaminar (ca), pol·luir (ca)
• Dutch: bevuilen (nl)
• Finnish: tahrata
• French: souiller (fr), déflorer (fr)
• German: verunreinigen
• Greek: ρυπαίνω (el) ‎(rypaíno), μολύνω (el) ‎(molýno), βεβηλώνω (el) ‎(vevilóno), μαγαρίζω (el) ‎(magarízo), λερώνω (el) ‎(leróno)
• Irish: salaigh, truailligh
• Japanese: 汚す ‎(yogosu), 濁す ‎(nigosu), 冒涜する (ja) ‎(bōtoku suru)
• Latin: inquinō, polluo

• Maori: whakapoke
• Old English: bædan
• Persian: لگدمال کردن ‎(lagadmâl kardan)
• Portuguese: conspurcar (pt)
• Romanian: spurca (ro)
• Russian: па́чкать (ru) impf ‎(páčkatʹ), мара́ть (ru) impf ‎(marátʹ), загрязня́ть (ru) impf ‎(zagrjaznjátʹ), оскверня́ть (ru) impf ‎(oskvernjátʹ) (desecrate), растлева́ть (ru) impf ‎(rastlevátʹ) (corrupt), развраща́ть (ru) impf ‎(razvraščátʹ) (corrupt)
• Spanish: ensuciar (es), contaminar (es), impurificar (es)
• Swedish: orena

Etymology 2

Earlier defilee, from French défilé, from défiler ‎(“to march past”), from file ‎(“file”).

Noun

defile ‎(plural defiles)

1. A narrow way or passage, e.g. between mountains.
2. A single file, such as of soldiers.
3. The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior.

Translations

narrow passage

• Dutch: engte (nl) f
• Finnish: sola (fi)
• German: Engpass (de) m, Hohlweg (de) m
• Greek: δερβένι (el) n ‎(dervéni)

• Latin: pylae f pl
• Russian: у́зкий прохо́д m ‎(úzkij proxód), дефиле́ (ru) n ‎(defilé), тесни́на (ru) f ‎(tesnína)
• Spanish: desfiladero (es) m, estrecho (es) m, angostura f, paso (es) m
• Tagalog: banawag

single file

• Finnish: jono (fi)
• French: défilé (fr)

• Greek: παρέλαση (el) f ‎(parélasi)
• Russian: дефиле́ (ru) n ‎(defilé)
• Spanish: desfile (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} дефиле (bg) n ‎(defile), ^{(please verify)} проход (bg) m ‎(prohod)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} klisura f, ^{(please verify)} tjesnac m

See also

• glen

Verb

defile ‎(third-person singular simple present defiles, present participle defiling, simple past and past participle defiled)

1. (archaic, intransitive) To march in a single file.
   • 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, p.138:

     They defiled down a gully to the water and bunched and jerked their noses at it and came back.

Translations

to march in a single file

• Bulgarian: дефилирам (bg) ‎(defiliram)
• Finnish: marssia jonossa (fi)
• French: défiler (fr)

• Russian: дефилировать (ru) ‎(defilirovatʹ)
• Spanish: desfilar (es)
• Swedish: defilera (sv)

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From French défilé.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /defǐleː/
• Hyphenation: de‧fi‧le

Noun

defìlē m ‎(Cyrillic spelling дефѝле̄)

1. march-past

Declension

Declension of defile

	singular	plural
nominative	defìlē	defilei
genitive	defilèa	defiléā
dative	defileu	defileima
accusative	defile	defilee
vocative	defileu / defilee	defilei
locative	defileu	defileima
instrumental	defileom	defileima

References

• “defile” in Hrvatski jezični portal