blasphemous

[blas-fuh-muhs]

adjective

1. uttering, containing, or exhibiting blasphemy; irreverent; profane.

   Synonyms: impious, sacrilegious, iconoclastic, apostate, irreligious

blasphemous

/ ˈblæsfɪməs /

adjective

1. expressing or involving impiousness or gross irreverence towards God, a divine being, or something sacred

Other Word Forms

• blasphemously adverb
• blasphemousness noun
• nonblasphemous adjective
• nonblasphemously adverb
• nonblasphemousness noun
• semiblasphemous adjective
• semiblasphemously adverb
• semiblasphemousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of blasphemous¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Late Latin blasphēmus, from Greek blásphēmos “defaming, speaking evil,” equivalent to blá(p)s(is) “harm, evil” ( blab- “harm” + -sis -sis ( def. ); compare bláptein “to harm”) + -phēmos “speaking,” derivative of phḗmē “speech”; -ous ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of blasphemous¹

C15: via Late Latin, from Greek blasphēmos evil-speaking, from blapsis evil + phēmē speech

Example Sentences

It’s blasphemous in America to suggest anything can rival the NFL, but today, I do not fear the football Gods.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Local media quoted eyewitnesses as saying a man jokingly proposed marriage to the vendor, and her response was considered blasphemous by some people in the area.

Read more on BBC

For numerous GOP voters, this suspicion is tied to religious fundamentalism and the very crux of the Scopes trial — that the theory of evolution contradicts the Bible and is, therefore, blasphemous.

Read more on Salon

This feels almost blasphemous to say, in a culture that loves a secret.

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The protesters were angry over the display a book by the exiled feminist author Taslima Nasrin, who has in the past received death threats from Islamist groups for what they say are her blasphemous writings.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• disrespectful 
• insulting 
• profane 
• sacrilegious