Defile vs Deface - What's the difference?
defile | deface |
to make impure; to make dirty.
A narrow way or passage, e.g. between mountains.
A single file, such as of soldiers.
The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior.
(archaic) To march in a single file.
* 1979 , Cormac McCarthy, Suttree , Random House, p.138:
march-past
To damage something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.
* 1869:
To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value.
* 1776:
(heraldry, flags) To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.
As verbs the difference between defile and deface
is that defile is to make impure; to make dirty while deface is to damage something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.As a noun defile
is a narrow way or passage, e.g. between mountains.defile
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Verb
(defil)Synonyms
* contaminate * polluteAntonyms
* purifyEtymology 2
Earlier (defilee), from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)See also
* glenVerb
(defil)- They defiled down a gully to the water and bunched and jerked their noses at it and came back.
Noun
Declension
{{sh-decl-noun , defìl?, defilei , defilèa, defilé? , defileu, defileima , defile, defilee , defileu / defilee, defilei , defileu, defileima , defileom, defileima }}References
*deface
English
Verb
(defac)- That wondrous frame where melody began / Lay as a tomb defaced that no eye cared to scan.
- He defaced the I.O.U. notes by scrawling "void" over them.
- One-and-twenty worn and defaced' shillings, however, were considered as equivalent to a guinea, which perhaps, indeed, was worn and ' defaced too, but seldom so much so.
- You get the Finnish state flag by defacing the national flag with the state coat of arms placed in the middle of the cross.