Word.ws English Dictionary

defiliation

UK/dɪˌfɪliːˈ(j)eɪʃən/

defiliation noun: the separation of a child from its parents.

Noun

defiliation (countable and uncountable, plural defiliations)

  1. The separation of a child from its parents.
    • […] the tales of fairy-spiriting may shadow a lamentable verity, and the recovery of the young Montagu be but a solitary instance of good fortune, out of many irreparable and hopeless defiliations.1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC

Forms of defiliation

pluraldefiliations

Origin of defiliation

From Latin de- + filius (“son”).

Questions about defiliation

What does defiliation mean?
Defiliation means the separation of a child from its parents.
What part of speech is defiliation?
Defiliation is a noun.
How do you pronounce defiliation?
Defiliation is pronounced /dɪˌfɪliːˈ(j)eɪʃən/ (UK).
What is the plural of defiliation?
The plural of defiliation is defiliations.

Words near defiliation in the dictionary

  1. defiler
  2. defilers
  3. defiles
  4. defilest
  5. defileth
  6. defiliation
  7. defiliations
  8. defiling
  9. defilingly
  10. DeFilippis
  11. DeFilippises

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: defiliation (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “defiliation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/defiliation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.