blaspheme

American  

[blas-feem, blas-feem] / blæsˈfim, ˈblæs fim /

verb (used with object)

• blasphemes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• blasphemed,
  past participle,  past
• blaspheming
  present participle

1. to speak impiously or irreverently of (God or sacred things).

2. to speak evil of; slander; abuse.

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verb (used without object)

• blasphemes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• blasphemed,
  past participle,  past
• blaspheming
  present participle

1. to speak irreverently of God or sacred things; utter impieties.

blaspheme British  

/ blæsˈfiːm /

verb

1. (tr) to show contempt or disrespect for (God, a divine being, or sacred things), esp in speech

2. (intr) to utter profanities, curses, or impious expressions

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Synonym Usage

See curse.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• blasphemer
  noun
• unblasphemed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• blaspheming
  present
• blasphemed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• blaspheme
  simple
• blasphemes
  simple
• have blasphemed
  perfect
• has blasphemed
  perfect
• am blaspheming
  progressive
• are blaspheming
  progressive
• is blaspheming
  progressive
• have been blaspheming
  perfect progressive
• has been blaspheming
  perfect progressive

Past

• blasphemed
  simple
• had blasphemed
  perfect
• was blaspheming
  progressive
• were blaspheming
  progressive
• had been blaspheming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will blaspheme
  simple
• will have blasphemed
  perfect
• will be blaspheming
  progressive
• will have been blaspheming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of blaspheme

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Late Latin blasphēmāre, from Greek blasphēmeîn “to speak profanely,” derivative of blásphēmos blasphemous

Explanation

To blaspheme is to say something offensive, specifically offensive to a religion. There are several types of blaspheming, but they usually involve saying things that are considered offensive to a religion or to a deity. If you say "Jesus Christ!" or "Good God!" when you stub your toe, some would consider that blaspheming.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blaspheme blasphemes blasphemed blaspheming

“I don’t really understand how you can blaspheme about something that happened, even in 1625,” he said, offering up excerpts from Brown’s book.

From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2021

President Emmanuel Macron spoke out in support of the teenager, arguing that in France "we have the right to blaspheme".

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2021

I’m about to blaspheme here, so hold onto your knickers, Dodger fans, but Vin Scully used to have me snoring by the fourth inning, his drone being the perfect cure for insomnia.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2021

Mila has appeared on French television to say she did not regret the video and to defend the right to blaspheme.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 12, 2020

"He wanted to say something more, but he did not dare blaspheme, and there was silence again in the little cottage...."

From Contemporary Russian Novelists by Serge Persky

The consistent mind mocks and distorts life itself, blasphemes and perverts everything in a uni verse that insists on motion.

From Time Magazine Archive

My husband blasphemes the fierce winds and extreme cold in a very picturesque manner; but the disapprobation he feels is a moral ope, not a physical discomfort.

From Memories of Hawthorne by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop

And as with every month the hopelessness of resistance was made plainer and plainer, there came upon me the recklessness of the condemned man who jests or blasphemes to hide his ruth.

From Apologia Diffidentis by O. M. (Ormonde Maddock) Dalton

If she swears, they call her a perjurer; if she weeps, they say that she is acting; and that she blasphemes when she calls on God.

From The Social Cancer by Charles E. Derbyshire

Lost lilies, bruised and sodden; Lost faces, gleaming there, Where misery blasphemes the sacred young!

From The Singing Man A Book of Songs and Shadows by Josephine Preston Peabody

Juan de Salas stood before the inquisitor Moriz in Vallalodid on June 21, 1527, and once again denied he had blasphemed the evangelists.

From Salon ● Dec. 5, 2015

"I've had a lot more fun watching and arguing about the Twilight movies than I ever had with the Star Wars saga, that lumbering, narratively hobbled space opera," he blasphemed recently.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 15, 2012

"Texas" blasphemed, tried the door, finally fired through it.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thus shall ye say to your master, 'Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

From The Bible Story by Newton Marshall Hall

Then he found a lieutenant, and shook him in vain; further on a captain, and exchanged saddening murmurs with him; further still a camp-follower of African extraction, and blasphemed him.

From The Brigade Commander by J. W. Deforest

The wonderfully blaspheming Ella, who is wise to everyone’s deceits, steals many of the scenes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

As he saw it, what his son was doing, like what the sunbathers and the bikers were doing, was not blaspheming the memorial: There can be no forgetting, he said.

From New York Times ● May 28, 2014

“Bill, you’re blaspheming me,” Mr. Icahn complained, according to Mr. Ackman.

From New York Times ● Nov. 26, 2011

Scot, who grew up Christian in Muslim Pakistan, fled to Australia in 1987 after he was charged with blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad, an offense punishable by death.

From Time Magazine Archive

I wasn’t blaspheming, I was asking for information.

From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway