desecration

American  

[des-i-krey-shuhn] / dɛs ɪˈkreɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act of treating something sacred or solemn in a sacrilegious or disrespectful way.

   Many locals opposed the use of their former church building as a courthouse, feeling that conducting civil matters there would be a desecration of a holy place.

2. the act of ruining or violating something revered or greatly valued.

   Greedy corporations are contributing to the demise of civilization and the desecration of the ecosystem.

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Other Word Forms

• nondesecration noun

Etymology

Origin of desecration

desecr(ate) + -ation ( def. )

Example Sentences

Certain hardline sections of the ultra-Orthodox community disagree with autopsies, saying any interference with a dead body is a desecration according to the Torah.

From Barron's

West Virginia, Massachusetts, South Dakota, Louisiana, Iowa, Illinois—these isolated local stories are combining to mark a nationwide desecration of the dead.

From The Wall Street Journal

Indigenous residents protest the potential desecration of their ancestral land.

From The Wall Street Journal

She said she wanted to "unleash the spirit of Lincolnshire" against "the planned desecration of our countryside".

From BBC

"That original taking was illicit, was unethical, was a form of desecration," he told BBC News NI.

From BBC

Related Words

• blasphemy