defile1
verb/dɪˈfaɪl/
/dɪˈfaɪl/
(formal or literary)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they defile | /dɪˈfaɪl/ /dɪˈfaɪl/ |
| he / she / it defiles | /dɪˈfaɪlz/ /dɪˈfaɪlz/ |
| past simple defiled | /dɪˈfaɪld/ /dɪˈfaɪld/ |
| past participle defiled | /dɪˈfaɪld/ /dɪˈfaɪld/ |
| -ing form defiling | /dɪˈfaɪlɪŋ/ /dɪˈfaɪlɪŋ/ |
- defile something to make something dirty or no longer pure, especially something that people consider important or holy
- Many victims of burglary feel their homes have been defiled.
- The altar had been defiled by vandals.
Word Originlate Middle English: alteration of obsolete defoul, from Old French defouler ‘trample down’, influenced by obsolete befile ‘pollute, defile’.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
defile1