avilar

An obsolete verb, marked as such in the RAE dictionary, meaning to debase or degrade (from vil, vile) — a learner will only encounter it quoting or studying old texts. Envilecer is the modern equivalent.

• Tales acciones avilan al que las comete. — Such actions debase whoever commits them.
• No quiso avilar su nombre con esa traición. — He refused to disgrace his name with that betrayal.
• La crónica antigua narra cómo el rey avilaba a sus enemigos. — The old chronicle tells how the king used to degrade his enemies.

A dead word in modern Spanish — using it in ordinary writing will simply read as a mistake for envilecer, the verb that actually replaced it.

Often confused with envilecer.