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defilement

noun

Definition of defilementnext
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

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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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of defilement In this way, Lapid keeps the emotional aspect of Y’s self-defilement at the forefront of the drama. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defilement
  1. desecration
  2. contamination
  3. violation
  4. contaminant
  5. blasphemy
  6. pollutant
  7. corruption
  8. sacrilege
Noun
  • Cutting down a tree is this ultimate symbol of the desecration of the environment, but that wasn’t always the case.
    — Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026
  • In January 2021, following the discovery of Talina’s remains in Polk County, Arkansas, Bommeli was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and desecration of a human corpse.
    — Veronica Fulton, NBC news, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of desecration
Noun
  • Residents were forced into lengthy battles with their insurance companies to prove contamination and get help paying for the cleanup and additional living expenses.
    — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Films, pouches and other lightweight packaging can be difficult and expensive to collect, transport and sort, while multilayer constructions and contamination limit the material’s recycling options.
    — Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of contamination
Noun
  • The order warned any construction or demolition before the NPS issues final authorization would be a violation of the court.
    — Kristin Wright, NPR, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Former Edison football coach Dave White remembers suspending his team’s best player before a trip to Hawaii for a team rule violation.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of violation
Noun
  • Many families who are cited in the lawsuit said the insurer refused to test their homes for contaminants.
    — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Hardness is not a contaminant that every report is required to include.
    — Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of contaminant
Noun
  • That might have sounded like blasphemy just half a decade ago, but college football is always evolving, and Swinney is a man stuck in time.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Politicians and preachers denounced them for blasphemy, perversion, and their loud support for civil rights.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of blasphemy
Noun
  • Wastewater treatment removes a large share of those pollutants, but not everything disappears.
    — Ryan Brennan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Wastewater treatment removes a large share of pollutants, but not everything disappears.
    — Ryan Brennan, Sacbee.com, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of pollutant
Noun
  • Because of the high likelihood of corruption, our devices encode messages with enough redundancy that they can be pieced together by the receiving machine despite the errors incurred in transit.
    — Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Miami Vice ’85, with a screenplay by Dan Gilroy, explores the glamour and corruption of mid-1980s Miami in an all-new version of Miami Vice, inspired by the pilot episode of the landmark 1984-90 NBC series.
    — Justin Kroll, Deadline, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of corruption
Noun
  • To refer to the Manhattanite rock quintet as third best in any context feels like music sacrilege.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Filming a talk show on a moving train brings its own set of audio and visual problems, but making this show any other way would be sacrilege.
    — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of sacrilege

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defiled
defilement
defilements
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Cite this Entry

“Defilement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defilement. Accessed 22 Sep. 2026.

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