desecrate

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“
Now if a successful Elamite invasion in 2280 found in Chaldea famous sanctuaries to desecrate, the religion to which these sanctuaries belonged, that of the Cushite, or Semitic colonists, must have been established in the country already for several, if not many, centuries.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. transitive verb To violate the sacredness of; profane.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

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Examples (50)

  • There are many Israeli companies that "desecrate" the Sabbath already. —  IAGblog
  • In no way does that desecrate or deviate from "the long-loved, highly-valued American tradition of dissent." —  Salem-News.com
  • But we took it upon ourselves to desecrate it all and take as much as we could, and I think we did a good job with it. —  IGN TV
  • Be It Further Resolved, that we call on the United States Government to exercise its environmental justice and trust responsibility to speak out in defense of the culture and sacred sites of O'odham who are United States citizens whose spiritual well-being would be devastated by the proposed dump that would desecrate an O'odham sacred area; —  The NarcoSphere -
  • The news report in Saamna was about allegations made by one Rajendra Agarwal that Bhujbal had instigated him to desecrate the bust of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at Ramabai Nagar in suburban Ghatkopar. —  The Times of India
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

desecrate:   desecrated ·  desecrates
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. de- + (con)secrate.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin as if *desecratus, past participle of *desecrare (later Italian dissacrare, dissagrare = Old French F. dessacrer), desecrate, from de- privative + sacrare, make sacred, from sacer, sacred: see sacred; formed as the opposite of consecrate. There is a rare Late Latin desecrare, desacrare, with the positive sense “consecrate,” from Latin de- intensive + sacrare, make sacred.
 

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/ˈdɛsəkreɪt/
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