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 unclean, dirty, or impure; soil; befoul.
   • 1611, “Job 16:15”, in King James Bible:

     I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, And defiled my horn in the dust.

   • 1911, The Forerunner, volume 2, page 271:

     “That's only dirt—it will brush off.” But he looked at me with his haggard hopeless eyes and said—— “It is mud. Black, slimy, horrible mud. I am defiled."

2. (transitive) To vandalize or add inappropriate contents to something considered sacred or special; desecrate

   To urinate on someone's grave is an example of a way to defile it.

3. (transitive) To deprive or ruin someone's (sexual) purity or chastity, often not consensually; stain; tarnish; mar; rape

   The serial rapist kidnapped and defiled a six-year-old girl.

Synonyms

• (make unclean): contaminate, pollute, spoil, sully; see also Thesaurus:dirty
• (vandalize something considered sacred): desecrate, profane; see also Thesaurus:desecrate
• (violate chastity of): ravish, violate, vitiate

Antonyms

• (make unclean): clean, purify; see also Thesaurus:make clean
• (vandalize something considered sacred): sanctify; see also Thesaurus:consecrate

Related terms

▼ English terms derived from the PIE root *puH-‎ (0 c, 15 e)

  afoul

  befile

  befilth

  befoul

  defile

  file

  filth

  foul

  pus

  putrefaction

  putrefy

  putrescence

  putrescent

  putrid

  pyo-

Translations

to make impure or dirty

• Bulgarian: опетнявам (bg) (opetnjavam), осквернявам (bg) (oskvernjavam)
• Catalan: embrutar (ca), contaminar (ca), pol·luir (ca)
• Dutch: bevuilen (nl), ontreinigen, onrein (nl) maken (nl)
• Finnish: tahrata
• French: souiller (fr)
• German: verunreinigen (de)
• Greek: ρυπαίνω (el) (rypaíno), μολύνω (el) (molýno), βεβηλώνω (el) (vevilóno), μαγαρίζω (el) (magarízo), λερώνω (el) (leróno)

  Ancient: μολύνω (molúnō), μιαίνω (miaínō)

• Hungarian: beszennyez (hu), bemocskol (hu)
• Irish: salaigh, truailligh, éilligh
• Japanese: 汚す (yogosu), 濁す (nigosu), 冒涜する (ja) (bōtoku suru)

• Latin: inquinō, polluo, coinquinō
• Maori: whakapoke, hāparu
• Old English: bædan
• Persian: لگدمال کردن‎ (lagadmâl kardan)
• Plautdietsch: ve'orreinjen
• 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), profanar (es)
• Swahili: kutia (sw) najisi
• Swedish: orena

to violate the chastity of

• French: déflorer (fr)

• Hungarian: megbecstelenít

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
   • Plutarch, "Life of Nicias", tr. Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin, p. 239:

     The next morning the enemy were on the march before him, seized the defiles, blocked the fords of the rivers, destroyed the bridges, and sent out cavalry to patrol the open ground, so as to oppose the Athenians at every step as they retreated.

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)
• Galician: quenlla (gl) f, groba f
• German: Pass (de) m, Bergpass m, Engpass (de) m, Hohlweg (de) m
• Greek: δερβένι (el) n (dervéni)

• Latin: saltus (la) m, furculae f pl, pylae f pl
• Maori: kapiti, kōaka, kopia
• 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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} дефиле (bg) n (defile), ^{(please verify)} проход (bg) m (prohod)

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} klisura (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} tjesnac (sh) 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
• French: défiler (fr)

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

Anagrams

• e-filed

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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