English → Latin
“defile” in Latin
maculōto stain, make spotted; to defile, pollute; to dishonorcommaculōto stain, spot; to pollute, defile, soilcontāminōto touch, bring into contact; to corrupt, contaminate, defile, stain, polluteinquinōto pollute, defile, stain, befoul; to corrupt, contaminatepolluōto soil, defile, pollute, stain, foul; to contaminate, violate, dishonor, desecrate, pollute, defilespurcōto soil, infect; to depravecōnspurcōto befoul, polluteviolōto treat with violence; to maltreat; to violate, defile, profane, rapeangustĭaesingfaucēsthe upper part of a throat; pharynx; gullet; a narrow entrance; entry passage; defile; gorge; the jaws of the earth; gul
The English word defile itself goes back to Latin fīlum, through filāre.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
defile
TR., maculare; commaculare; maculis aspergere (especially to stain what is white): contaminare (to sully the purity of anything): inquinare (to pollute, with the accessory notion of destroying the beauty of anything): polluere (implies a desecration of what is holy and pure): spurcare; conspurcare (to make dirty, with the accessory notion of disgust; scarcely ever used in the elevated style): violare (to dishonour, to deflour, and also to profane): to defile one’s hands with blood, manus suas sanguine cruentare: to be defiled with the blood of kinsmen, parricidio contaminari: to be defile with lust, vitam oblinere libidine; libidinibus inquinari. Vid. STAIN, POLLUTE.
defile
INTR., perhaps in acie procedere: to defile, or march through a narrow pass, per angustias iter habere: the army defiles through a mountain pass covered with woods, agmen per saltum porrigitur (Tac., Ann., 1, 51, 3).
defile
angustiae (a narrow pass, through a chain of mountains): fauces (a narrow pass, opening into a wider space).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for defile?
- The usual Latin words for “defile” are maculō, commaculō, contāminō; also inquinō, polluō, spurcō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.