Defile

 WORD OF THE DAY

defile / verb / dih-FYLE

Definition
1a: make unclean or impure
1b: to corrupt the purity or perfection of
1c: debase
1d: to violate the chastity or virginity of
1e: deflower
1d: to make physically unclean especially with something unpleasant or contaminating
1e: to violate the sanctity of
1f: desecrate
1g: sully, dishonor
2a: a narrow passage (as between hills, rocks, or cliffs)
2b: gorge
3: to march off in a line

Example
“Now, in an about-face, the agency is preparing to rework those regulations, potentially allowing state officials to take a broader array of environmental concerns ... into account when deciding whether to approve major construction that could defile bodies of water.”
— Dino Grandoni, The Washington Post, 27 May 2021

Police charged Brevard with abduction with intent to defile in the Homewood Suites attack.
— Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2022

Did You Know?
The verb defile (unrelated to this verb defile or its related noun) has a number of uses that are all variations on the idea of making something unclean or impure.
These meanings echo the word’s Middle English and Anglo-French ancestry, where defilement is connected to figurative and literal trampling.
The ultimate Anglo-French root is fuller, or foller, which means “to trample under foot,” “to oppress”—or literally, “to full.”
Full in this case is a technical term: when you full woolen cloth you shrink and thicken it by moistening, heating, and pressing it. Originally, the pressing part was done by trampling it with the feet.