Crossword clues for desecrate
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Desecrate \Des"e*crate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Desecrated; p. pr. & vb. n. Desecrating.] [L. desecratus, p. p. of desecrare (also desacrare) to consecrate, dedicate; but taken in the sense if to divest of a sacred character; de- + sacrare to consecrate, fr. sacer sacred. See Sacred.] To divest of a sacred character or office; to divert from a sacred purpose; to violate the sanctity of; to profane; to put to an unworthy use; -- the opposite of consecrate.
The [Russian] clergy can not suffer corporal punishment
without being previously desecrated.
--W. Tooke.
The founders of monasteries imprecated evil on those
who should desecrate their donations.
--Salmon.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1670s, formed from de- "do the opposite of" (see de-) + stem of consecrate. Old French had dessacrer "to profane," and there is a similar formation in Italian; but Latin desecrare meant "to make holy," with de- in this case having a completive sense. Related: Desecrated; desecrating.\n
Wiktionary
(cx rare English) desecrated. v
1 (context transitive English) To profane or violate the sacredness or sanctity of something. 2 (context transitive English) To remove the consecration from someone or something; to deconsecrate. 3 (context transitive English) To inappropriately change.
WordNet
v. violate the sacred character of a place or language; "desecrate a cemetary"; "violate the sanctity of the church"; "profane the name of God" [syn: profane, outrage, violate]
remove the consecration from a person or an object [syn: deconsecrate] [ant: consecrate]
Usage examples of "desecrate".
I was surprised at the proceedings being taken against me, as if there had been a certainty of my having desecrated a grave, whilst there could be nothing but suspicion.
Below, in smaller print, were the specifics: the 1955 pogrom in Istanbul in which 15 Greeks were killed, 200 Greek women raped, 4,348 stores looted, 59 Orthodox churches destroyed, and even the graves of the Patriarchs desecrated.
He destroyed Jerusalem, despoiled the great temple, desecrated the holy of holies and burned the Torah, the heavenly book of scriptures.
The little shop that Dad Barrett had built and organized with such purpose, such care and love, was now disrupted, desecrated, by an explosion of placeless, meaningless colors.
The ground around him was no longer desecrated, but beginning to resanctify, and with it he could feel the draining of his power.
If he were to desecrate the holy ground in some way to allow himself to be able to even stand on it would be resanctified immediately by whatever element it is consecrated to.
Or bathed in the blood of unbaptized infants, or desecrated in some other terrible way.
He had formed the flesh of Christ: wherefore it was unbecoming that it should be desecrated by intercourse with man.
Even if this place was just an ordinary masjid house of worship, we had already considerably desecrated it.
Moreover, he prayed them all to compose their differences and prepare for that awful struggle, lest in the end the Cross of their Master should be trampled under foot of the Saracen, His soldiers slain, His fanes desecrated, and His people slaughtered or driven into the sea-- words of warning that were received in heavy silence.
You think me but a woman, but know that here in the shrine of Isis, aye, here in her holy House which you desecrate with revellings and with the flesh of butchered beasts, I, her Prophetess and Oracle, am the very goddess and clothed with her divinity.
As the camera panned the devastation, in the distance, where the smoke and radioactive cloud had not yet entirely shrouded the earth, the moon rose above the horizon, glowing blood red through the desecrated sky.
Thus she denounced Her ancient, fickle worshippers, who left Her altars desecrate, her fires unfed, Her name forgotten.
For example, there was little inclination to bring decks to a very high pitch of cleanliness when it was known that they would soon be desecrated by dockyard maties in hob-nailed boots, stripping and unrigging the barky and laying her up in ordinary: this and a thousand other things led to short answers, ill-will, and sullen looks, though to no deliberate insolence or failure to obey orders - not even the first smell of mutiny.
Cameron Clarke: I am here, as an ordinary humble citizen, to protest an ill-conceived, sordid and totally unneeded scheme which would desecrate the magnificent, unspoiled area of California known as Tunipah.