defile

See also: defilé, défile, and défilé

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): [dɪˈfaɪ(jə)ɫ]
• 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

• 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
• Japanese: 汚す (yogosu), 冒瀆する (bōtoku suru)(冒涜する (bōtoku suru))

• Latin: inquinō

• Maori: whakapoke
• Old English: bædan
• 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, 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 f
• Finnish: sola (fi)
• German: Engpass (de) m, Hohlweg m

• 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

single file

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

• Russian: дефиле́ (ru) n (defilé)
• Spanish: desfile 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
• 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