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Defile vs. Desecrate — What's the Difference?

Defile vs. Desecrate — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Defile and Desecrate

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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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