desecrate

English

WOTD – 5 January 2008

Etymology

From de- + stem of consecrate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛs.ɪ.kɹeɪ̯t/, /ˈdɛs.ə.kɹeɪ̯t/

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Verb

desecrate (third-person singular simple present desecrates, present participle desecrating, simple past and past participle desecrated)

1. (transitive) To profane or violate the sacredness or sanctity of something.
   • 1916, James Whitcomb Riley, The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley‎^[1], volume 10:

     It's reform -- reform! You're going to 'turn over a new leaf,' and all that, and sign the pledge, and quit cigars, and go to work, and pay your debts, and gravitate back into Sunday-school, where you can make love to the preacher's daughter under the guise of religion, and desecrate the sanctity of the innermost pale of the church by confessions at Class of your 'thorough conversion'!

   • 1984, Quorthon (lyrics and music), “Necromansy”:

     Tonight nothing is too sacred, we desecrate and live in sin

2. (transitive) To remove the consecration from someone or something; to deconsecrate.
3. (transitive) To change in an inappropriate and destructive manner.
   • 1913, William Alexander Lambeth, Warren H. Manning, Thomas Jefferson as an Architect and a Designer of Landscapes.‎^[2]:

     A subsequent owner has desecrated the main hall and robbed it of its grandeur by putting in a floor just beneath the circular windows in order to make an upper room over the hall.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done. […] A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.

Synonyms

• (profane or violate sacredness): defile, unhallow; see also Thesaurus:desecrate
• (remove the consecration): deconsecrate, desanctify
• (inappropriately change): pervert

Related terms

• desecrated
• desecrater
• desecration
• desecrative
• desecrator

 

Translations

to profane or violate sacredness

• Armenian: պղծել (hy) (pġcel), սրբապղծել (hy) (srbapġcel)
• Bulgarian: оскверня́вам (bg) impf (oskvernjávam)
• Catalan: profanar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 褻瀆／亵渎 (zh) (xièdú), 污辱 (wūrǔ)

• Danish: vanhellige
• Dutch: ontwijden (nl)
• Finnish: häpäistä (fi)
• French: profaner (fr), désacraliser (fr)
• German: entheiligen (de), schänden (de), entweihen (de)
• Greek: βεβηλώνω (el) (vevilóno)
• Hebrew: חילל \ חִלֵּל (khilél)
• Hungarian: megszentségtelenít (hu)
• Icelandic: vanhelga
• Igbo: mebie (ig)
• Irish: truailligh
• Italian: profanare (it), dissacrare (it)
• Japanese: 冒涜する (ja) (ぼうとくする, bōtoku suru), 冒す (ja) (おかす, okasu), 神聖を汚す
• Korean: 훼손하다 (ko) (hwesonhada), 더럽히다 (deoreophida)
• Macedonian: оскр́нави (oskŕnavi)
• Maori: whakapoke, hāparu
• Middle English: polluten
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vanhellige

  Nynorsk: vanhelge

• Polish: bezcześcić (pl) impf, zbezcześcić (pl) pf, profanować (pl) impf, sprofanować (pl) pf
• Portuguese: profanar (pt)
• Romanian: profana (ro), pângări (ro), spurca (ro)
• Russian: оскверня́ть (ru) impf (oskvernjátʹ), оскверни́ть (ru) pf (oskvernítʹ), надруга́ться (ru) impf (nadrugátʹsja)
• Scottish Gaelic: mì-choisrig
• Spanish: profanar (es), (rare) desecrar
• Swahili: -najisi
• Swedish: skända (sv), vanhelga (sv)
• Yiddish: מחלל זײַן (mekhalel zayn), שענדן (shendn), פֿאַרשוועכן (farshvekhn)

to remove the consecration

• French: désécrer
• Italian: sconsacrare (it)
• Maori: hāparu, whakanoa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: krenke (no), nedverdige, vanhellige, vanære (no)

  Nynorsk: krenkje, nedverdige, vanhelge, vanære

• Polish: zeświecczyć pf
• Portuguese: desconsagrar, profanar (pt)
• Romanian: desacraliza (ro)
• Scottish Gaelic: mì-choisrig

to inappropriately change

• French: désacraliser (fr), profaner (fr)
• Italian: dissacrare (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: krenke (no)

  Nynorsk: krenkje

• Polish: zeszpecić pf
• Romanian: profana (ro)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} desecrare

Adjective

desecrate (comparative more desecrate, superlative most desecrate)

1. (rare) Desecrated.
   • 1842, Edgar Allan Poe, The Myster of Marie Rogêt:

     Here are the very nooks where the unwashed most abound—here are the temples most desecrate.

Anagrams

• decastere