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
  • Jared Krysiak pleaded guilty to a charge of desecration of human remains in connection with brutal slaying of Kerry Rollason, according to a statement released by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday.
    Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 18 Dec. 2024
  • However, its forces are made up of jihadist militants, who were shown on video committing a slew of atrocities, including beheadings and the desecration of corpses during their lightning offensive that led to Assad’s collapse.
    Brady Knox, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 11 Dec. 2024
Definition of desecration
Noun
  • Farmland contamination has become a contentious environmental issue in both red and blue states.
    Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times, 27 Dec. 2024
  • The Food and Drug Administration has classified a recall of eggs sold at Costco in Tennessee and four other states in the south in caused by potential salmonella contamination as the highest risk level for infection.
    James Powel, The Tennessean, 26 Dec. 2024
Definition of contamination
Noun
  • Particularly the no pitch intentional pass and pitch clock violation anomalies.
    Jayson Stark, The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
  • Accountability mechanisms would have to be built in to ensure violations come at a cost.
    Samuel Charap, Foreign Affairs, 24 Dec. 2024
Definition of violation
Noun
  • This means it’s been independently verified to be free of contaminants and has an accurate ingredient label.
    Holly Klamer, MS, Health, 19 Dec. 2024
  • In just the last six months, the South Coast AQMD has issued the facility eight such nuisance violations, which indicate a discharge of air contaminants causing odors traced back to Hyperion, according to recent inspector testimony.
    Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 16 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
  • He was arrested in 1973 on corruption charges, and his 52-day long trial cost 1.25 million British pounds.
    Elizabeth Stamp, Architectural Digest, 25 Dec. 2024
  • Adams, 64, was indicted in September on federal corruption charges, pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.
    Mark Crudele, ABC News, 21 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 30 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...