DEFILEMENT Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

defilement

noun

Definition of defilement

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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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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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

Noun

The gang steals sacred objects, but their movements around them can resemble ceremony not desecration.

— Callum McLennan, Variety, 24 Sep. 2026
These are two examples of politicians' truths among a plethora of others that are really lies, distortions, deceptions and desecrations of the citizens' trust in them.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of desecration

Noun

The plan aims to address contamination that the phosphate industry left behind — and prevent it from ever causing another catastrophe.

— Ryan Ballogg, Miami Herald, 28 Sep. 2026
Last summer, SpaceX president Claudia Sheinbaum threatened legal action against SpaceX, citing contamination caused by the company’s rockets.

— Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of contamination

Noun

Several Japanese nationals, including executives at top Japanese firms, were reportedly detained in August over alleged violations of dual-use goods export restrictions.

— Anniek Bao,Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 5 Oct. 2026
Merz said Germany would take further steps to defend itself, including against Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers in the Baltic and North seas, airspace violations and drone attacks.

— Susie Blann, Chicago Tribune, 4 Oct. 2026

Definition of violation

Noun

Over 600 million gallons of that water have now been drained, treated to remove contaminants and pumped deep underground.

— Ryan Ballogg, Miami Herald, 28 Sep. 2026
Because of environmental regulations, those contaminants need to be removed during refining.

— Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of contaminant

Noun

Or a plot to divert attention from Murphy’s blasphemy of her famously lucky number 13?

— Isabella Albaig, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2026
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

Definition of blasphemy

Noun

East of Eden is a tome obsessed with guilt, sin, ambition, race, the land as healing and capitalism as putrefying, the nature of fate and the question of free will, and the role money and inheritance play in either our corruption or our cleansing.

— Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026
Brown, who served as the union’s chief of staff and as special assistant to ex-International President Newton Jones, is the first of eight former Boilermakers to be sentenced in the federal corruption case.

— Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of corruption

Noun

While this might seem like capitalist sacrilege, Gearin says there’s historical precedent for Indigenous peoples using plant medicine as a tool to navigate the practical demands of the world.

— Claire Hoffman, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2026
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

Definition of sacrilege

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“Defilement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defilement. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of defilement

noun

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