defilement

Etymology

It is formed from English defile + -ment.^[2][3][4][5] The verb defile is an alteration of Middle English defoulen, under the influence of the native verb filen (“to make foul”), from Old English fȳlan, itself a derivative of fūl (“foul”).^[2][5][3] The older verb came from Old French defouler (“to trample down, oppress, violate”), formed from de- and fouler (“to tread, trample”),^[2][5][3] from Vulgar Latin *fullō (“to stamp”), from Latin fullō (“fuller”).^[5][3] The OED explains that the older verb had become associated with foul by the 14th century, and that English already had the synonymous pairs befoul and befilen, foul and filen, which led to defile beside it.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something that defiles; an instance of defiling: 1571, in Arthur Golding's translation of Calvin's commentary on the Psalms.^[2][6] Etymonline likewise dates the sense "that which defiles" to the 1570s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The abstract sense, the act of defiling or the state of being defiled, follows in 1637, in Milton's Comus,^[2][6][3] where lust "lets in defilement to the inward parts".^[7] The Historical Thesaurus files the word both under physical dirtiness and under moral or spiritual degradation.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as the state of being defiled, the act of defiling, nastiness, pollution and corruption.^[7]

Timeline

• 1571 – something that defiles; an instance of defiling.^[2][6]
• 1637 – the act of defiling; the state of being defiled.^[2][6][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of defiling, or the state of being defiled; pollution or corruption: the defilement of a holy place.^[4][2][8]
2. Something that defiles.^[4][2]

Word family

• nondefilement

Related words

• defile
• foul
• befoul
• filth

Usage notes

A separate noun defilement, borrowed from French défilement (from défiler), means the planning of fortifications so as to shelter them from enemy fire, or defilade; the OED records it from 1816.^[2][6][9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
9. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers