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

“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

Earlier in his career, Leto’s androgynous appeal was so conspicuous it’s as if certain filmmakers needed to defile it somehow.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2021

They climbed the last few feet up to the foot of the cliff, where a narrow defile led a little way into the shadow.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

As mixed as I am on the film itself, I appreciate that the Academy is embracing not just a horror movie, but a gleeful Grand Guignol that defiles the Walk of Fame twice.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2025

"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

As the day wore on, Melyngar led them swiftly through rocky defiles to high ridges.

From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander

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

In his resignation letter, he said the CCC had been "defiled", accusing the ruling Zanu-PF party of being behind the move - allegations it denied.

From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2024

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

The long-awaited move from the Environmental Protection Agency is meant to spark the cleanup of scores of sites defiled by industrial compounds and make the public more aware of their presence.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2022

They prayed: “O city of Athena, help us, so that the laws of justice shall not be defiled and through all lands the helpless and oppressed shall be delivered.”

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Coming to grips with the experience of that landscape was a major turning point in my understanding about the degree to which we as a species are capable of defiling our planet.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2023

Let’s start with the users defiling the site with parodies of Musk and prominent corporations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2022

"I don't want to reinforce that defiling the Capitol was OK. I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future," he told CBS.

From Reuters ● Jan. 31, 2022

Others see the mining as defiling the land on the reserve by polluting the waters, stripping bare the land, as well as upending centuries-old cultural traditions.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2022

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