blasphemy
Americannoun
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impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things.
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Judaism.
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an act of cursing or reviling God.
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pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) in the original, now forbidden manner instead of using a substitute pronunciation such as Adonai.
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Theology. the crime of assuming to oneself the rights or qualities of God.
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irreverent behavior toward anything held sacred, priceless, etc..
He uttered blasphemies against life itself.
noun
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blasphemous behaviour or language
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Also called: blasphemous libel. law the crime committed if a person insults, offends, or vilifies the deity, Christ, or the Christian religion
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of blasphemy
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English blasphemie, from Late Latin blasphēmia, from Greek, equivalent to blasphem(ous) + -y 3
Explanation
Saying offensive things about God or religion is blasphemy. Blasphemy can be used for offensive ideas in other areas too. If you're saying something bad about a god, or taking the Lord's name in vain, or questioning a religious institution in any way, you could be accused of blasphemy — insulting something sacred. You can use this word in a lot of other ways too. At a meeting of conservatives, a liberal idea could be considered blasphemy (and vice versa). You might even jokingly cry "Blasphemy!" if a friend said your favorite ice cream flavor stinks.
Vocabulary lists containing blasphemy
The Crucible
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I Am Malala
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The Glass Castle
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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.
Blasphemy is defined as speaking insultingly about a particular religion or god.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2022
Blasphemy isn’t an offense in the U.S. given the nation’s strong constitutional protection for freedom of speech.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2018
Blasphemy laws protect religious dogma from ridicule, and therefore the feelings of believers, Mchangama argues, while hate-speech laws protect religious groups from degrading expressions.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 23, 2017
On Jan. 5, precisely one year after the last word was penned, Little, Brown will publish “Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression.”
From Washington Post • Dec. 15, 2015
In the days of that great and good reformer, Charles Bradlaugh, the Blasphemy Laws were made use of to stifle the poor in the expression of their opinions in a very shameless way.
From The Law and the Poor by Parry, Edward Abbott
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.
