Defile

(denoted by several Heb. and Gr. words, especially טָמֵא, tame’, μιαίνω, denoting filthiness, but spoken chiefly in a figurative or ceremonial sense). Many were the blemishes of person and conduct which, under the Mosaic law, were esteemed defilements; some were voluntary, others involuntary; some originated with the party, others were received by him; some were inevitable and the effect of nature, others the consequences of personal transgression. Under the Gospel, defilements are those of the heart, of the mind, the temper, and the conduct. Moral defilements are as numerous, and as thoroughly prohibited under the Gospel as ever; but ceremonial defilements are superseded as requiring any religious rites, though many of them claim attention as usages of health, decency, and civility (Mat 15:18; Gen 49:4; Romans 1, 24; Jas 3:6; Eze 43:8). SEE POLLUTION.

molyno (G3435) Defile

miaino (G3392)

Although both of these words are translated as defile in the New Testament, they differ in their underlying imagery. Properly speaking, molynein means "to besmear" or "to besmirch," as with mud or filth. Miainein basically means "to stain" with color, not "to smear" with matter.

In a secondary and ethical sense, molyno and miaino have an equally dishonorable meaning. The "filthiness [molysmos, (3436)] of the flesh" (2Co_7:1) is the same as the "pollutions [miasmata, (3393)] of the world" (2Pe_2:20). Both words are also used to refer to the defiling of women (cf. Gen_34:5; Zec_14:2). But this synonymy is only true when the terms are used figuratively or ethically. In classical Greek miainein is the word that is most frequently used to refer to the profaning or unhallowing of anything. On the one hand, however, when miainein is used literally, it may have a good sense, as in the English staining of glass or ivory. On the other hand, molynein's literal meaning is as negative as its figurative one.