as in pernicious
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in polluting
to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable
supplies of meat that had been defiled by maggots
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in violating
to treat (a sacred place or object) shamefully or with great disrespect
art conservators were careful not to do anything that might defile the holy relic
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defiling
Adjective
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The direct cost of the tariffs on aerospace is estimated to be as high as $5 Billion, but the real cost is far more pernicious.—
Jerrold Lundquist,
Forbes.com,
30 Mar. 2025 -
Many scandals arise from the occasion of these activities, and adulteries and other outrageous crimes are committed as a clear offence to God, a very serious danger to the souls of those committing them, and a pernicious example to others.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
27 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Since fast fashion exists to keep up with rapidly changing trends, a striking 85% of clothes end up in landfills every year, polluting the environment.—
Grace Butler,
USA TODAY,
14 Feb. 2025
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Justices said that without a specific law, the agency cannot force the entire power generation industry to move away from fossil fuels toward less-polluting energy sources.—
Camila Domonoske,
NPR,
12 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Even in districts that have staff dedicated to teaching Black history, some teachers are afraid of violating state law, according to Brian Knowles, who oversees African American, Holocaust and Latino studies for the Palm Beach County school district.—
Kate Payne,
Orlando Sentinel,
23 Dec. 2024
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That year, the campaign finance regulator separately found that Wyss’s groups failed to provide evidence of certain grant agreements upon conservatives accusing him of violating laws on foreign nationals making donations.—
Gabe Kaminsky,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
22 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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In it, after her sister’s mysterious death, Rebeca investigates an urban myth about a cursed video game that kills everyone who plays it.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
6 May 2025
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Billy McFarland’s cursed music festival is now available to the highest bidder.—
Air Mail,
Air Mail,
3 May 2025
Verb
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Their reasoning is that these products are poisoning Americans.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Mar. 2025
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An Aurora dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife in 2023 allegedly tried to pay a fellow jail inmate $20,000 to kill the case's lead investigator, prosecutors said in court Friday.—
Axios Denver,
Axios,
18 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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As for the place, its veneer of comfortable tourism doesn’t hide the air of something unwholesome, especially when female guests start randomly throwing up.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
16 Feb. 2024
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Less visibly, Manton operated a side business with a more unwholesome objective: cashing in on his status and power as a judge.—
Time,
Time,
25 July 2023
Adjective
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That included former interim U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, who wrote in her resignation letter that Adams had entered into a corrupt quid pro quo with Trump to get rid of his case by offering immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for a dismissal.—
Chris Sommerfeldt,
New York Daily News,
10 May 2025
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He has been banned for life from the city of Bonita Springs, having once sunk a corrupt city councilman’s party barge, but shows little remorse.—
Amy Weiss-Meyer,
The Atlantic,
8 May 2025
Adjective
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Her investigation reveals forbidden rituals and buried wartime secrets connected to a sealed cave, with supernatural forces closing in around her.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
15 May 2025
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Here’s the synopsis: The story of Dorrigo Evans, an army surgeon whose short but forbidden affair with his uncle's wife sustains and haunts him through his darkest days in a Thai-Burmese prisoner of war camp in WWII.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
17 Apr. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Defiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defiling. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
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