consecrate
Americanverb (used with object)
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consecrates,
present (3rd person singular)
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consecrated,
past participle, past
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consecrating
present participle
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to make or declare sacred; set apart or dedicate to the service of a deity.
to consecrate a new church building.
- Antonyms:
- desecrate
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to make (something) an object of honor or veneration; hallow.
a custom consecrated by time.
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to devote or dedicate to some purpose.
a life consecrated to science.
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to admit or ordain to a sacred office, especially to the episcopate.
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to change (bread and wine) into the Eucharist.
adjective
verb
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to make or declare sacred or holy; sanctify
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to dedicate (one's life, time, etc) to a specific purpose
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to ordain (a bishop)
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Christianity to sanctify (bread and wine) for the Eucharist to be received as the body and blood of Christ
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to cause to be respected or revered; venerate
time has consecrated this custom
adjective
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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consecraternoun
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consecrationnoun
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consecratornoun
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deconsecrateverb (used with object)
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preconsecrateverb (used with object)
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reconsecrateverb (used with object)
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consecrativeadjective
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consecratoryadjective
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unconsecrativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
consecratesimple
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consecratessimple
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have consecratedperfect
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has consecratedperfect
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am consecratingprogressive
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are consecratingprogressive
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is consecratingprogressive
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have been consecratingperfect progressive
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has been consecratingperfect progressive
Past
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consecratedsimple
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had consecratedperfect
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was consecratingprogressive
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were consecratingprogressive
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had been consecratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of consecrate
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English consecraten, from Latin consecrātus (past participle of consecrāre ), equivalent to con- + -secr- (variant, in noninitial syllables, of sacer “consecrated, holy”) + -ātus, past participle suffix; see origin at con-, sacred, -ate 1
Explanation
Consecrate means to make holy or to dedicate to a higher purpose. You need to consecrate a building to turn it into a church, but you can also consecrate a week in New York City to the pursuit of the perfect bagel. The secr part of consecrate comes from the Latin sacer "sacred." Remember that something consecrated is dedicated to God and thus sacred. And then remember that the meanings of words tend to stretch; over time this one moved from "dedicated to God" to "dedicated to whatever": jelly donuts, the perfect tan, finding a solution to Rubik's Cube.
Vocabulary lists containing consecrate
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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.
See Examples For:
“It is defined by our congregants and by the strength of our shared purpose. Our crisis, our grief, our loss also contains within it the seeds of a rebirth that we consecrate this evening.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2026
Capote perfectly captures the sacramental quality of the holiday—how, through the exhaustive labor of polishing and scrubbing, we consecrate the routine rooms of daily existence into a sanctuary for celebration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Does Ocean fortify and consecrate his work by refusing to put more of it into the world?
From Washington Post ● Apr. 24, 2023
Early converts to what was originally called the Church of Christ, organized in 1830, were encouraged to consecrate all their goods to their new religious community so it could redistribute resources to those in need.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2023
At church he has the power to forgive sins and consecrate the host.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
An America that euphemizes this grievance as a matter of “race relations,” and in the process consecrates race as a natural category, is an America that still isn’t confronting its reality.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2016
In her exaltation of women, she purifies and consecrates their desires.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 30, 2015
Male domination in the leadership of the Church of England is coming to an end, as the 500-year-old institution consecrates its first female bishop.
From Time ● Jan. 26, 2015
In its most traditional form, the priest consecrates the bread and wine in a whisper with his back to the congregation: anathema to those who think openness is the spirit of the age.
From Economist ● Dec. 13, 2012
I am tired of the absurd pedantry which consecrates the history of such a people to the instruction of children.—l'A.B.C.
From Voltaire: A Sketch of his Life and Works by G. W. (George William) Foote
She returned to singing in 2001, with Mr. Sellars’s staging of two Bach cantatas as a consecrated meditation on death.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
She said the square has been consecrated by dignitaries of all religious denominations in Ganvie, making it a respected place, both spiritual and symbolic.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
Presiding over the service was Cardinal Robert Prevost, who is now Pope Leo XIV and whose devotion to Guadalupe is such that he was consecrated as a bishop 11 years ago this Dec. 12.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025
He uncovered relics inscribed and consecrated nearly 2,000 years ago.
From BBC ● May 3, 2025
“About those two lovers to whose memory I have consecrated myself.”
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
The Vatican declared a formal schism with the Society of St. Pius X, excommunicating its bishops and priests for consecrating four bishops without papal consent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Decades after triggering a rift with the Vatican by consecrating bishops in 1988, the Society of Saint Pius X is doing it again on Wednesday in defiance of Pope Leo XIV.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
As the song came into bloom, an Eddie Vedder-shaped shadow led what felt like a secular hymnal consecrating the proceedings.
From Seattle Times ● May 29, 2024
In circles that emphasize biblical patriarchy, often rooted in the Calvinist or Reformed wing of Christianity, some have suggested that civil government should have no role in consecrating marriage.
From Salon ● May 26, 2024
After dinner we all went to the front room where the priest took a small book from his jacket to recite some prayers, consecrating our house and our family.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
