unconsecrated
Britishadjective
Explanation
Anything that's unconsecrated hasn't been declared to be sacred. Knowing whether something or someone is unconsecrated is important during religious rituals. In the Christian religious rite of the Eucharist, ordinary unconsecrated bread and wine is made holy. The act of blessing them is called consecration, from the Latin sacrare, or "dedicate." Unconsecrated things have not been dedicated or imbued with holiness. A religious believer might object to a deceased relative's burial in an unconsecrated cemetery.
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.
"Information regarding the respectful treatment of human remains in unconsecrated grounds can be found on the Government website."
From BBC • Oct. 17, 2022
He learned, only recently, that he had a half sister who died at the home in 1950s and that her remains, presumably, are commingled in the site’s unconsecrated ground.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 13, 2018
And yet there is something narrow, and basically anachronistic, about this view of “the comments” as a phenomenon restricted to the unconsecrated ground below the line.
From The New Yorker • Jun. 17, 2015
The unconsecrated cemetery’s rusty gates are festooned with colourful feathers, trinkets and ribbons.
From Economist • Jun. 19, 2014
Once I thought it would be an indelible disgrace to bury my father in this unconsecrated ground; now I should be glad if I had done so.
From Regina or the Sins of the Fathers by Sudermann, Hermann
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.
