When straight, down-swooping from the hills meanwhile / the Harpies flap their clanging wings, and tear / the food, and all with filthy touch defile, / and, mixt with screams, uprose a sickening stench and vile.
Source: tatoeba (7014463)
Defile
//dɪˈfaɪl//
Synonyms for "defile" (360 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (72)
Strong matches (108)
censurechannelchapchasmcheapencheckchimneychinkcleftcleuchcloistercloughcoarsencolcolonnadecommunicationcondemnconduitconfoundconnection
Show 72 more words
convertcorridorcorruptcouleecouloircovered waycrackcrannycrevassecrevicecrucifycursecutcwmdamagedebasedebauchdecaydeceivedefalcatedefamedeflectiondefloratedeflowerdegeneratedegradedelldemoralizedenaturedenigratedepravedesecratedespoildestroydevaluedikedirtydisadvantagedisapprovediscolordishonordisparagedisservedistortdistressditchdivertdo a mischiefdo evildo illdo wrongdo wrong bydongadoomdrawembezzleengage in personalitiesenvenomexcavationexitexposeexpose to infamyfaultferryfilefile offfissureflawflumefootslogforceford
Related words (180)
fracturefurrowgallerygapgapegashget into troublegibbetgo on paradegoose stepgoose-stepgorgegroovegulchgulfgullyhang in effigyharassharmheap dirt upon
Show 122 more words
hexhikeholehurtimpairincisioninfectinjureinletinterchangeintersectionisthmusjinxjointjunctionklooflanelead astrayleakmaladministermalignmaltreatmarchmarch pastmenacemessmess upmiremisapplymisappropriatemisemploymishandlemisleadmismanagemistreatmisusemoatmolestmuckrakemushnarrownarrowsnastynecknotchnullahopeningoutletoutrageoverpassparadepasspassagepassagewaypeculatepersecutepervertpilferpilloryplay havoc withplay hob withpoisonporticoprejudiceprofanepromenadeprostituterailroad tunnelraperavageravineravishrentreprimandrevileriftrimeruinrupturesavagescathescissureseamseduceshameslitslotslursmearsmirchsoilsplitstainstigmatizestraittainttarthreatenthroatthrow mud attormenttorturetrajecttrajettramptrenchtunneltwistulcerateunderpassvalleyvilifyviolatevitiatevoidvulgarizewadiwarpwoundwreak havocwreak havoc onwrong
Noun(1 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
17 entriesShowing 16 of 17 words.
Antonyms
2 entriesSynonyms
6 entriesRelated terms
13 entriesderived
5 entriesetymologically related_to
3 entriesis a
1 entriesmanner of
1 entriesrelated to
24 entriesShowing 16 of 24 words.
Translations
106 translations across 34 languages.
Ancient Greek
2 entries- μιαίνω verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- μολύνω verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Bulgarian
4 entries- боаз noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- дефиле noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- проход noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- дефилирам verb (to march in a single file or line — see also file)
Catalan
3 entries- contaminar verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- embrutar verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- pol·luir verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Chinese Mandarin
1 entries- 污秽 verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Czech
2 entries- poskvrnit verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- pošpinit verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Dutch
4 entries- engte noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- bevuilen verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- bezoedelen verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- onrein maken verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Esperanto
1 entries- malpurigi verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Finnish
4 entries- jono noun (single file of soldiers; any single file)
- sola noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- marssia jonossa verb (to march in a single file or line — see also file)
- tahrata verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
French
3 entries- défilé noun (single file of soldiers; any single file)
- défiler verb (to march in a single file or line — see also file)
- souiller verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Galician
2 entries- groba noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- quenlla noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
German
4 entries- Bergpass noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- Engpass noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- Hohlweg noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- Pass noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
Gothic
1 entries- 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Greek
4 entries- δερβένι noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- παρέλαση noun (single file of soldiers; any single file)
- βεβηλώνω verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- λερώνω verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Hungarian
2 entries- bemocskol verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- beszennyez verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Irish
3 entries- salaigh verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- truailligh verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- éilligh verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Japanese
3 entries- 冒涜する verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- 汚す verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- 濁す verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Latin
4 entries- angustiae noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- furculae noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- pylae noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- saltus noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
Macedonian
1 entries- дефили́ра verb (to march in a single file or line — see also file)
Middle English
1 entries- polluten verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Māori
4 entries- kapiti noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- kopia noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- kōaka noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- hāparu verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Norwegian Bokmål
2 entries- besudle verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
- tilskitne verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Old English
1 entries- bædan verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Ottoman Turkish
2 entries- دربند noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- بوقلامق verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Persian
1 entries- لگدمال کردن verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Plautdietsch
1 entries- ve'orreinjen verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Portuguese
1 entries- conspurcar verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Romanian
1 entries- spurca verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Russian
4 entries- дефиле́ noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- дефиле́ noun (single file of soldiers; any single file)
- тесни́на noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- у́зкий прохо́д noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
Serbo-Croatian
4 entries- klìsura noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- tjèsnac noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- клѝсура noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- тјѐснац noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
Spanish
4 entries- angostura noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- desfiladero noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
- desfile noun (single file of soldiers; any single file)
- estrecho noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
Swahili
1 entries- kutia najisi verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Swedish
2 entries- defilera verb (to march in a single file or line — see also file)
- orena verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Tagalog
1 entries- banawag noun (narrow passage or way, especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains)
Yiddish
1 entries- באַשמוצן verb (to make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean)
Sample sentences
36 total sentences available.
Thou art poured out as water, grow thou not; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, and didst defile his couch.
Source: tatoeba (7919291)
I can't believe you would defile a gravestone!
Source: tatoeba (10803321)
[…] It is an euil birde that defiles his owne neſt, […]
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 36 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.