profanation

[prof-uh-ney-shuhn]

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noun

the act of profaning; desecration; defilement; debasement.

Origin of profanation

1545–55; < Late Latin profānātiōn- (stem of profānātiō) desecration, equivalent to Latin profānāt(us) (past participle of profānāre to profane) + -iōn- -ion; replacing prophanation < Middle French < Medieval Latin prophānātiō, for Late Latin profānātiō, as above

Synonyms for profanation

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sacrilege, blasphemy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for profanation

desecration, curse, mockery, blasphemy, profanity, impiety, crime, violation, heresy, offense, sin

Examples from the Web for profanation

Historical Examples of profanation

This is what Sunday might be made, and what it might be made without impiety or profanation.
Sunday under Three Heads
Charles Dickens
Weighed in this scale, what a profanation is this man guilty of!
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
Their spirit of profanation and impiety arrived at the extreme pitch.
Roman Catholicism in Spain
Anonymous
The entertainment of the proposition of depravity is the last profligacy and profanation.
Essays, Second Series
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Haggerstone and he were intimates were it not a profanation of the word, we should say friends.
The Daltons, Volume I (of II)
Charles James Lever

Word Origin and History for profanation

1550s, from Old French prophanation (15c., Modern French profanation) or directly from Late Latin profanationem (nominative profanatio), noun of action from past participle stem of profanare (see profane (adj.)).