defile

verb/dɪˈfaɪl/

Frequency rank: #17,854 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

to make something dirty, impure, or no longer sacred

Illustration for the English word “defile”

Example sentence

The factory's waste water began to defile the nearby river, killing fish and plants.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 17,801–17,900