defilement

noun

Definition of defilementnext
1
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for defilement
  1. desecration
  2. contamination
  3. violation
  4. contaminant
  5. blasphemy
  6. pollutant
  7. corruption
  8. sacrilege
Noun
  • Artifact theft and desecration are surprisingly common in national parks.
    Corey Buhay, Outside Online, 8 Nov. 2024
  • Another count, desecration of a human corpse, was dismissed.
    KC Baker, People.com, 17 Oct. 2024
Definition of desecration
Noun
  • The contamination was discovered after samples of the product were collected from a store in Baltimore, Maryland, and laboratory analysis by the State of Maryland Department of Health determined that they were contaminated with listeria.
    Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 13 Dec. 2024
  • The attorneys also claim that the migrating contamination onto Tucson property constitutes trespassing.
    Sarah Lapidus, The Arizona Republic, 11 Dec. 2024
Definition of contamination
Noun
  • For years, Austin schools had struggled to clear thousands of overdue requests from families that students get evaluated for special education services, which is a law violation.
    Keri Heath, Austin American-Statesman, 15 Dec. 2024
  • Four Marine League coaches decided to forfeit games rather than play Narbonne, alleging rule violations.
    Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2024
Definition of violation
Noun
  • Organizations can reduce the contaminants in the water by 95%, but if the remaining 5% isn’t resolved, private citizens can take civil action against the groups to force them into extremely expensive remediation to meet 100% of the surface water quality standards.
    John Leos, The Arizona Republic, 12 Dec. 2024
  • Because it was so widely used, TCE has also become a significant contaminant in drinking water in the United States.
    Jen Christensen, CNN, 9 Dec. 2024
Definition of contaminant
Noun
  • For some reason, this idea of a period of cheap fossil fuels to accelerate the energy transition is blasphemy, even though a case study already exists in China.
    Mark Le Dain, Forbes, 15 Dec. 2024
  • But now here’s Ferrari ratcheting up the blasphemy with—this is not a typo—what seems to be a station wagon.
    IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 28 Mar. 2012
Definition of blasphemy
Noun
  • Scientists have connected both of these pollutants to a range of acute and chronic health issues.
    Sarah Garone, Health, 13 Dec. 2024
  • Tobacco smoke has small particles that are better addressed with higher CADR ratings, while dust is a pollutant with medium-sized particles, and pollen has large particles, according to the EPA.
    Deidre McPhillips, CNN, 13 Dec. 2024
Definition of pollutant
Noun
  • The only other president to be successfully impeached was Park Geun-hye, a conservative who left office in 2017 and was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a corruption scandal involving major corporations and the daughter of a cult leader.
    Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2024
  • In 2016, parliament impeached Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female president, over a corruption scandal.
    Kim Tong-Hyung, Chicago Tribune, 14 Dec. 2024
Definition of corruption
Noun
  • But sometimes movies need a little sacrilege to achieve their full potential.
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 13 Sep. 2024
  • However, that didn’t stop right-wing figures around the world, including Donald Trump, from claiming that the performance amounted to sacrilege, leading to widespread harassment against Jolly, as well as some of the performers involved.
    James Factora, Them, 29 Oct. 2024
Definition of sacrilege
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.

Thesaurus Entries Near defilement

defiled

defilement

defilements

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Defilement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defilement. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on defilement

Nglish: Translation of defilement for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of defilement for Arabic Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

Point of View: It's Personal

Plural and Possessive Names: A Guide

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Words You Always Have to Look Up
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Birds Say the Darndest Things

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)

10 Scrabble Words Without Any Vowels
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
naughty or nice
Are you naughty or nice? Quiz He's making a quiz, and checking it twice...