defile

IPA: dɪfˈaɪɫ

noun

  • 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.
  • (military)
  • An act of marching in files or lines.
  • A single file of soldiers; (by extension) any single file.
  • (military, rare) An act of defilading a fortress or other place, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior.

verb

  • (transitive)
  • To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil.
  • To make (someone or something) morally impure or unclean; to corrupt, to tarnish.
  • To act inappropriately towards or vandalize (something sacred or special); to desecrate, to profane.
  • (religion) To cause (something or someone) to become ritually unclean.
  • (obsolete)
  • To deprive (someone) of their sexual chastity or purity, often not consensually; to deflower, to rape.
  • To dishonour (someone).
  • (intransitive, obsolete)
  • To become dirty or unclean.
  • To cause uncleanliness; specifically, to pass feces; to defecate.
  • (intransitive, archaic) To march in a single file or line; to file.
  • (transitive, obsolete) To march across (a place) in files or lines.
  • (transitive, military, rare) Synonym of defilade (“to fortify (something) as a protection from enfilading fire”)
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Examples of "defile" in Sentences

    No Sentences Found for defile

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