Defile vs. Desecrate — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Defile and Desecrate
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Compare with Definitions
Defile
To make filthy or dirty; pollute
Defile a river with sewage.
Desecrate
To violate the sacredness of; profane.
Defile
To debase the pureness or excellence of; corrupt
A country landscape that was defiled by urban sprawl.
Desecrate
(transitive) To profane or violate the sacredness or sanctity of something.
Defile
To profane or sully (a reputation, for example).
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Desecrate
(transitive) To remove the consecration from someone or something; to deconsecrate.
Defile
To make unclean or unfit for ceremonial use; desecrate
Defile a temple.
Desecrate
(transitive) To change in an inappropriate and destructive manner.
Defile
To have sexual intercourse with (a woman who is a virgin).
Desecrate
(rare) Desecrated.
Defile
To move in single file or in files or columns
The soldiers defiled from the fort, arms raised in surrender.
Desecrate
To divest of a sacred character or office; to divert from a sacred purpose; to violate the sanctity of; to profane; to put to an unworthy use; - the opposite of consecrate.
The [Russian] clergy can not suffer corporal punishment without being previously desecrated.
The founders of monasteries imprecated evil on those who should desecrate their donations.
Defile
A narrow gorge or pass that restricts lateral movement, as of troops.
Desecrate
Violate the sacred character of a place or language;
Desecrate a cemetary
Violate the sanctity of the church
Profane the name of God
Defile
A march in a line.
Desecrate
Remove the consecration from a person or an object
Defile
(transitive)
Defile
To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil.
Defile
To make (someone or something) morally impure or unclean; to corrupt, to tarnish.
Defile
To act inappropriately towards or vandalize (something sacred or special); to desecrate, to profane.
To urinate on someone’s grave is an example of a way to defile it.
Defile
(religion) To cause (something or someone) to become ritually unclean.
Defile
(obsolete)
Defile
To become dirty or unclean.
Defile
To cause uncleanliness; specifically, to pass feces; to defecate.
Defile
To march in a single file or line; to file.
Defile
To march across (a place) in files or lines.
Defile
Synonym of defilade
Defile
A narrow passage or way (originally (military), one which soldiers could only march through in a single file or line), especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains.
Defile
(military)
Defile
An act of marching in files or lines.
Defile
A single file of soldiers; (by extension) any single file.
Defile
An act of defilading a fortress or other place, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior.
Defile
To march off in a line, file by file; to file off.
Defile
Same as Defilade.
Defile
To make foul or impure; to make filthy; to dirty; to befoul; to pollute.
They that touch pitch will be defiled.
Defile
To soil or sully; to tarnish, as reputation; to taint.
He is . . . among the greatest prelates of this age, however his character may be defiled by . . . dirty hands.
Defile
To injure in purity of character; to corrupt.
Defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt.
Defile
To corrupt the chastity of; to debauch; to violate; to rape.
The husband murder'd and the wife defiled.
Defile
To make ceremonially unclean; to pollute.
That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile therewith.
Defile
Any narrow passage or gorge in which troops can march only in a file, or with a narrow front; a long, narrow pass between hills, rocks, etc.
Defile
The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior. See Defilade.
Defile
A narrow pass (especially one between mountains)
Defile
Place under suspicion or cast doubt upon;
Sully someone's reputation
Defile
Make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically;
The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air
Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man
Defile
Spot, stain, or pollute;
The townspeople defiled the river by emptying raw sewage into it
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