DEFILEMENTS Synonyms: 54 Similar and Opposite Words

defilements

noun

plural of defilement

as in corruptions

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 contaminants

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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for defilements

Noun

After the story was published, YouTube removed several channels for content violations.

— Max Tani, semafor.com, 2 Sep. 2026
Other alleged violations — which total 23 in all — range from not having any smoke or carbon monoxide detectors throughout the property to failing to maintain the building in a structurally safe and stable condition.

— Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of violations

Noun

Facilities would have to be on land zoned for heavy industrial use and could not be located near disadvantaged communities or populations sensitive to pollutants, such as hospitals, schools and nursing homes.

— Naomi Taxay, Sacbee.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Ancient rock art at Murujuga, or the Burrup Peninsula, in Western Australia, has seen much larger damaged than previously anticipated due to industrial pollutants found in air emissions.

— Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of pollutants

Noun

In one of the heaviest contaminations of TCE and PCE documented, thousands of soldiers and their families were exposed to the solvents at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune from 1953 to 1987.

— WUFT News, Miami Herald, 29 July 2026
And the Food and Drug Administration is also investigating contaminations that may be tied to a different outbreak.

— Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 24 July 2026

Definition of contaminations

Noun

Companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi—who own Dasani and Aquafina, respectively—take tap water, treat it (which typically means removing some minerals deemed impurities), bottle it, and sell it at a markup.

— Sam Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 27 Aug. 2026
That concentrate requires further refining to remove impurities.

— Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of impurities

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.

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defilement

defilements

defiles

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“Defilements.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defilements. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of defilements

noun

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