1
as in desecration
an act of great disrespect shown to God or to sacred ideas, people, or things
for two centuries the Christian monasteries in England suffered defilements at the hands of Viking invaders
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in contamination
something that is or that makes impure
souvenir shops, observation towers, and other tacky defilements on Civil War battlefields that should be considered hallowed ground
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defilement
Noun
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Both men are charged with two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, unlawful removal of a dead body and unlawful desecration of a human corpse, according to court records.—
Stepheny Price,
FOXNews.com,
6 Nov. 2025 -
Complete and utter desecration of a national monument.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Such weapons are considered ideal tools for terrorism, designed to cause fear, disruption, and long-term contamination rather than mass destruction.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Nov. 2025
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To avoid contamination, team members had their DNA genotyped so their own sequences could be identified and removed from the samples.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The most common template for an insider trading violation is as follows.—
Samidh Guha,
ABC News,
9 Nov. 2025
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In Chicago, the indelible image of a pastor in a clerical collar shot in the head with a pepper ball by agents standing on the rooftop of an ICE building is a direct violation of CBP’s use of force policy.—
Andy Rose 19 hr ago,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
Noun
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All ByHeart products have tested negative for any contaminants.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
9 Nov. 2025
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Officials warned that this loss of pressure may allow contaminants, including fecal material and disease-causing organisms, to enter the water supply through cracks or joints in the pipes.—
Anna Skinner,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Another of Mirk’s sermons tells a lurid story about the Virgin appearing to a judge known for his blasphemy.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
1 Nov. 2025
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More recently, Netflix’s film Mary, about the life of the mother of Jesus Christ, sparked debate among viewers when it was released in 2024, and the upcoming horror film The Carpenter’s Son about Jesus Christ was described as blasphemy online.—
Marni Rose McFall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In fact, air purifiers that are designed with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are quite successful at removing both pollutants and much of the dust from indoor air.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
9 Nov. 2025
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Today slop’s pejorative bite is increasingly aimed at all things AI, treating it as an undeniable cultural pollutant.—
Deni Ellis Béchard,
Scientific American,
8 Nov. 2025
Noun
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India became Sri Lanka’s de facto lender of last resort without requiring the Sri Lankan government to address concerns about the human rights abuses, militarization, or corruption that fueled the country’s political crisis.—
MUHIB RAHMAN,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Nov. 2025
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But turnout has been persistently low, months of horse-trading to form a government are likely to follow, and voters are weary of high levels of corruption.—
Prashant Rao,
semafor.com,
11 Nov. 2025
Noun
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In 1998, the Lucky Chances casino opened, surrounded by graveyards on three side, which critics saw as a sacrilege.—
Chris Kenning,
USA Today,
25 Oct. 2025
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For years, Apple treated the idea of windows on the iPad as sacrilege.—
Craig Grannell,
Wired News,
16 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Defilement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defilement. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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