verb
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to violate or outrage the sacred character of (an object or place) by destructive, blasphemous, or sacrilegious action
-
to remove the consecration from (a person, object, building, etc); deconsecrate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of desecrate
First recorded in 1665–75; de- + -secrate, modeled on consecrate
Explanation
To desecrate means to treat a sacred place or thing with violent disrespect. The news sometimes reports on vandals who have desecrated tombstones or places of worship. The word consecrate from the Latin consecrare means "to make sacred." Substituting the prefix con- with de- reverses the meaning. When preparing for a foreign occupation, the military instructs troops not to desecrate sacred sites and risk offending the local population. You can also desecrate someone's memory if you spread malicious lies about him after his death.
Vocabulary lists containing desecrate
Their Eyes Were Watching God
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The Book Thief
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Bless Me, Ultima
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Least likely to: Desecrate a burial ground with liquid swords.
From The Guardian • May 17, 2010
Why should purest of all rivers, Ganges, holy Desecrate itself merging into sea wholly?
From Truth and the Myth : Couplets quips by Narayanan, A. R.
Desecrate, des′e-krāt, v.t. to divert from a sacred purpose: to profane.—ns.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
