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defile

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dihfyl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɪˈfaɪl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. Make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically

  2. transitive

    To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil.

  3. transitive

    To make (someone or something) morally impure or unclean; to corrupt, to tarnish.

  4. transitive

    To act inappropriately towards or vandalize (something sacred or special); to desecrate, to profane.

noun

  1. A narrow pass (especially one between mountains)

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically

Used this way, defile is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use defile

  • “The townspeople defiled the river by emptying raw sewage into it.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

defile throughmountain defile

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • foul

    To make dirty.

  • tarnish

    Make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air.

  • cloud

    To make obscure.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.