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deficient: deficient: [16] Deficient was acquired from Latin dēficient-, the present participial stem of dēficere ‘undo, fail, leave, be lacking’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘away’ and facere ‘do, make’ (a parallel formation lies behind English defeat). The past participial stem of the Latin verb, dēfect-, produced English defect [15], while its third person present singular dēficit was borrowed by English as deficit.
=> defeat, defect, deficit
defile: defile: Defile ‘make dirty’ [14] and defile ‘narrow pass’ [17] are distinct words in English. The former has a rather complex history. It was originally acquired in the 13th century as defoul, borrowed from Old French defouler ‘trample down, injure’; this was a compound verb formed from the prefix de- ‘down’ and fouler ‘tread’, which in turn goes back via Vulgar Latin *fullāre to Latin fullō ‘person who cleans and thickens cloth by stamping on it’, source of English fuller [OE].

In the 14th century defoul started to turn into defile under the influence of the synonymous (and now obsolete) befile [OE], a compound verb derived ultimately from the adjective foul. Defile ‘narrow pass’ was borrowed from French défilé, originally the past participle of défiler, a compound verb based on filer ‘march in a column’ (which is a close relative of English file).
=> fuller; file
define: define: see fine
attention deficit disorder (n.): (abbreviated ADD) became a diagnosis in the third edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (1980); expanded to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ("the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone;" ADHD) in DSM-III (1987).
defiance (n.): c. 1300, from Old French desfiance "challenge, declaration of war," from desfiant, present participle of desfier (see defy).
defiant (adj.): 1837, from French défiant, present participle of défier (see defy). Related: Defiantly.
defibrillation (n.): 1940, in reference to heartbeat, from de- + fibrillation "a beating in an abnormal way," especially of the muscles of the heart that contract irregularly in this condition.
defibrillator (n.): 1956, agent noun from defibrillation.
deficiency (n.): 1630s, from deficience (mid-15c.) + -cy; or from Late Latin deficientia, from deficientem (see deficient).
deficient (adj.): 1580s, from Latin deficientem (nominative deficiens), present participle of deficere "to desert, revolt, fail," from de- "down, away" (see de-) + facere "to do, perform" (see factitious).
deficit (n.): 1782, from French déficit (late 17c.), from Latin deficit "it is wanting," an introductory word in clauses of inventory, third person singular present indicative of deficere "to be deficient" (see deficient).
defilade (n.): 1828, from defile (n.) + -ade.
defile (v.): c. 1400, "to desecrate, profane;" mid-15c., "to make foul or dirty," alteration of earlier defoulen, from Old French defouler "trample down, violate," also "ill-treat, dishonor," from de- "down" (see de-) + foler "to tread," from Latin fullo "person who cleans and thickens cloth by stamping on it" (see foil (v.)).

The alteration (or re-formation) in English is from influence of Middle English filen (v.) "to render foul; make unclean or impure," literal and figurative, from Old English fylen (trans.), related to Old English fulian (intrans.) "to become foul, rot," from the source of foul (adj.). Compare befoul, which also had a parallel form befilen. Related: Defiled; defiling.
defile (n.): "narrow passage," 1640s, especially in a military sense, "a narrow passage down which troops can march only in single file," from French défilé, noun use of past participle of défiler "march by files" (17c.), from de- "off" (see de-) + file "row," from Latin filum "thread" (see file (v.1)). The verb in this sense is 1705, from French défiler.
defilement (n.): 1570s, from defile (v.) + -ment.
define (v.): late 14c., "to specify; to end," from Old French defenir, definir "to finish, conclude, come to an end; bring to an end; define, determine with precision," and directly from Latin definire "to limit, determine, explain," from de- "completely" (see de-) + finire "to bound, limit," from finis "boundary, end" (see finish (v.)). Related: Defined; defining.
definite (adj.): 1550s, from Latin definitus "defined, bounded, limited," past participle of definire (see define). Definite means "defined, clear, precise, unmistakable;" definitive means "having the character of finality."
definitely (adv.): 1580s, from definite + -ly (2). As a colloquial emphatic word, attested by 1931.
definition (n.): late 14c., "decision, setting of boundaries," from Old French definicion, from Latin definitionem (nominative definitio), noun of action from past participle stem of definire (see define).

In logic, meaning "act of stating what something means" is from 1640s; meaning "a statement of the essential nature of something" is from late 14c.; the special focus on words developed after c. 1550. Meaning "degree of distinctness of the details in a picture" is from 1889.
definitive (adj.): late 14c., from Old French definitif (12c.), from Latin definitivus "explanatory, definitive," from past participle stem of definire (see define). Related: Definitively.
immunodeficiency (n.): 1969, from comb. form of immune + deficiency.
indefinability (n.): 1814, from indefinable + -ity.
indefinable (adj.): 1810, from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + definable (see define). Related: Indefinably.
indefinite (adj.): early 15c. (implied in indefinitely), from Latin indefinitus, from in- "not, opposite of, without" (see in- (1)) + definitus, past participle of definire (see define).
indefinitely (adv.): early 15c.; see indefinite + -ly (2).
redefine (v.): 1848, from re- + define. Related: Redefined; redefining; redefinition.
undefiled (adj.): c. 1300, undefylde, from un- (1) "not" + past participle of defile (v.). Originally of morals; sexual sense is attested from mid-15c. Physical sense of "not made dirty" is from 1580s.
undefined (adj.): 1610s, from un- (1) "not" + past participle of define (v.).