defile

A soldier who requested anonymity explained to AFP that since then the body had been guarded around the clock "so that rival groups do not defile him."

From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 2026

Some Parisians backed the move, but others - including heritage campaigners - said it was a bad idea and would "defile" the French capital's iconic monument.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024

“We can’t just take, defile and desecrate someone’s body without consent,” Numa says.

From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2024

“To defile the public debate with disinformation, lies, hatred and conspiracy theories is undemocratic conduct,” Luís Roberto Barroso, a Supreme Court justice and the head of Brazil’s electoral tribunal said in a recent speech.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2021

It’s amazing how quickly he can defile a space.

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

"It is time to realize that fundamentalism defiles and corrupts every creed," he said.

From Reuters ● Sep. 14, 2022

In the name of personalization, she says, “it defiles, ignores, overrides and displaces everything about you and me that is personal.”

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 11, 2019

Even as he builds his delegate count, he gains strength from the very groups he defiles.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 10, 2016

If Wood defiles this terrain, he does so by not describing it as vibrantly as you might hope.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2016

The boys chose their way through defiles and over heaps of sharp stone.

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

The writer Octavio Paz, the Mexican Nobel laureate, denounced Malinche as a kind of malevolent Eve whose submission to Cortés forever defiled Mexico’s mixed identity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2026

Close friend Jo Peraldi finds it hard to believe that a day of high emotion surrounding the funeral of Orsoni's mother could have been defiled in such a way.

From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2026

The Seleucids captured the holy Temple of Jerusalem and defiled it by erecting an altar to the Greek god Zeus inside.

From National Geographic ● Dec. 7, 2023

And I witnessed wave after wave of students taking skyward photos of their feet pressed against the Washington Monument, the venerable memorial defiled by dirty shoes and reduced to an Instagram prop.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2022

The sun was up, walking among clouds and long flags of smoke, but even the sunlight was defiled.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

That meant a lot to all of us in this community who were dismayed to see hateful messages defiling a shared space where our kids play.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 30, 2022

The song's title is a reference to the Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with "Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class".

From BBC ● May 30, 2022

"This is a defiling a classic," said another.

From Reuters ● Feb. 13, 2022

"Without being able to arrest people, when we just fine them, they are probably making more money of the production of the things that are defiling the environment," the actor said in his welcome speech.

From Fox News ● Jun. 1, 2021

We are all our beautiful bodies and so must never be prostrate before barbarians, must never submit our original self, our one of one, to defiling and plunder.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates