as in pernicious
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Dissimilar Words
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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Nine crucial years of expansion and solidification of the pernicious institution went by, speeding the nation’s road toward a grinding war.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 June 2026 -
Microplastics are tiny fragments, that can be as small as 1/25,000th of an inch (1 micrometer) and are a pernicious part of the plastic pollution crisis.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
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But across Oklahoma, the fluid is spreading uncontrollably belowground, blasting out of old, unplugged wells, polluting land and contaminating drinking water.—
Katie Campbell,
ProPublica,
2 June 2026
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The city had rezoned the area allowing polluting heavy industry to proliferate the community.—
Chadd Scott,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Jiankui spent three years in prison and was fined three million yuan (about $430,000 at the time) for violating medical regulations.—
Laura Dattaro,
Scientific American,
10 June 2026
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The determination concludes a six-month investigation by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division into Davis Med’s admissions practices, which found the school guilty of violating a landmark 2023 Supreme Court decision that banned affirmative action in university admissions.—
Sophia Mandt,
The Washington Examiner,
10 June 2026
Adjective
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There’s a fine line between lucky and cursed, however, and Pulisic is straddling it.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
7 June 2026
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The penalty shootout is a cursed affliction when the roulette wheel fails you, and that was Arsenal’s fate here.—
Amy Lawrence,
New York Times,
31 May 2026
Verb
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Lewis was accused of poisoning two white female housemates, assaulted by a white mob in response to the charge, and acquitted in court, only to then be accused of stealing art supplies and prohibited from reënrolling.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
8 June 2026
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It was also used in a separate supply-chain attack poisoning dozens of Red Hat packages.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
8 June 2026
Adjective
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Their jail is strange and unwholesome.—
Robert Rubsam,
The Atlantic,
26 Mar. 2026
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Grievous bodily harm, nonconsensual drugging, murder, yes…still, thank god there’s nothing unwholesome here, like say a man in a dress.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Fujimori is linked to the authoritarian and corrupt legacy of the government of her late father, Alberto Fujimori, in the 1990s.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
7 June 2026
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Of course, all of this convenient acquiescence will sound familiar in the United States, where our own Congress and Department of Justice have been nothing if not servile to a brazenly corrupt executive.—
Daniel Alarcón,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
Adjective
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That wasn’t its only subject; comedy and power and misogyny and creativity and intergenerational conflict and work ethic and, especially in its last few seasons, the debased state of the entertainment industry were all richly explored through lines.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
29 May 2026
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And this has lent Margot a debased sort of celebrity.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
6 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Defiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defiling. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
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