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Syllable division derived from spelling — this word is not in the pronouncing dictionary, so no phonetic transcription is shown rather than a guessed one.
defile is a verb and noun meaning "place under suspicion or cast doubt upon". It carries 4 recorded senses.
make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used metaphorically
“The silver was tarnished by the long exposure to the air”
“Her reputation was sullied after the affair with a married man”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for defile come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.