defilement.

The act or result of making something dirty, impure, or disrespectfully damaged.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• defilement of a shrine
• ritual defilement

On the page

The villagers regarded the vandalism as a defilement of the shrine.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: atmosphere, description. Commonness: moderately common.