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

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

A Voting Rights Act reauthorization passed the Senate 85 to 8 in 1982, when Republican President Ronald Reagan called it “a strong, bipartisan message: No American’s vote shall be defiled, diluted or denied.”

From Washington Post ● Mar. 19, 2021

With it he washed clean the stones that Wormtongue had defiled.

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

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

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

From Reuters ● Feb. 13, 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

"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

He hid his terror in his heart, however, and addressed the stranger: “What country is your fatherland? No hateful and defiling lies, I beg you. Tell me the truth.”

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