Adjacent Words

Profane definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PROFA'NE, a. [L. profanus; pro and fanum, a temple.]
1. Irreverent to any thing sacred; applied to persons. A man is profane when he takes the name of God in vain, or treats sacred things with abuse and irreverence.
2. Irreverent; proceeding from a contempt of sacred things, or implying it; as profane words or language; profane swearing.
3. Not sacred; secular; relating to secular things; as profane history.
4. Polluted; not pure.
Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things.
5. Not purified or holy; allowed for common use; as a profane place. Ezek 42. and 48.
6. Obscene; heathenish; tending to bring reproach on religion; as profane fables. 1 Timothy 4.
Profane is used chiefly in Scripture in opposition to holy, or qualified ceremonially for sacred services.
PROFA'NE, v.t. To violate any thing sacred, or treat it with abuse,irreverence, obloquy or contempt; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the sabbath; to profane the Scriptures or the ordinances of God.
1. To pollute; to defile; to apply to temporal uses; to use as base or common. Ezek 24.
2. To violate. Malachi 2.
3. To pollute; to debase.Leviticus 21.
4. To put to a wrong use.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: characterized by profanity or cursing; "foul-mouthed and blasphemous"; "blue language"; "profane words" [syn: blasphemous, blue, profane]
2: not concerned with or devoted to religion; "sacred and profane music"; "secular drama"; "secular architecture", "children being brought up in an entirely profane environment" [syn: profane, secular] [ant: sacred]
3: not holy because unconsecrated or impure or defiled [syn: profane, unconsecrated, unsanctified]
4: grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred; "blasphemous rites of a witches' Sabbath"; "profane utterances against the Church"; "it is sacrilegious to enter with shoes on" [syn: blasphemous, profane, sacrilegious] v
1: corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality; "debauch the young people with wine and women"; "Socrates was accused of corrupting young men"; "Do school counselors subvert young children?"; "corrupt the morals" [syn: corrupt, pervert, subvert, demoralize, demoralise, debauch, debase, profane, vitiate, deprave, misdirect]
2: violate the sacred character of a place or language; "desecrate a cemetery"; "violate the sanctity of the church"; "profane the name of God" [syn: desecrate, profane, outrage, violate]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (profaned; profaning) Etymology: Middle English prophanen, from Anglo-French prophaner, from Latin profanare, from profanus Date: 14th century 1. to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt ; desecrate 2. to debase by a wrong, unworthy, or vulgar use • profaner noun II. adjective Etymology: Middle English prophane, from Middle French, from Latin profanus, from pro- before + fanum temple — more at pro-, feast Date: 15th century 1. not concerned with religion or religious purposes ; secular 2. not holy because unconsecrated, impure, or defiled ; unsanctified 3. a. serving to debase or defile what is holy ; irreverent b. obscene, vulgar 4. a. not being among the initiated b. not possessing esoteric or expert knowledge • profanely adverb • profaneness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & v. --adj. 1 not belonging to what is sacred or biblical; secular. 2 irreverent, blasphemous. 3 (of a rite etc.) heathen. 4 not initiated into religious rites or any esoteric knowledge. --v.tr. 1 treat (a sacred thing) with irreverence or disregard. 2 violate or pollute (what is entitled to respect). Derivatives: profanation n. profanely adv. profaneness n. profaner n. Etymology: ME prophane f. OF prophane or med.L prophanus f. L profanus before (i.e. outside) the temple, not sacred (as PRO-(1), fanum temple)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Profane Pro*fane", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Profaned; p. pr. & vb. n. Profaning.] [L. profanare: cf. F. profaner. See Profane, a.] 1. To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God. The priests in the temple profane the sabbath. --Matt. xii. 5. 2. To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile. So idly to profane the precious time. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Profane Pro*fane", a. [F., fr. L. profanus, properly, before the temple, i. e., without the temple, unholy; pro before + fanum temple. See 1st Fane.] 1. Not sacred or holy; not possessing peculiar sanctity; unconsecrated; hence, relating to matters other than sacred; secular; -- opposed to sacred, religious, or inspired; as, a profane place. ``Profane authors.'' --I. Disraeli. The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine. --Gibbon. 2. Unclean; impure; polluted; unholy. Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things. --Sir W. Raleigh. 3. Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or undue familiarity; irreverent; impious. Hence, specifically; Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a profane person, word, oath, or tongue. --1 Tim. i. 9. Syn: Secular; temporal; worldly; unsanctified; unhallowed; unholy; irreligious; irreverent; ungodly; wicked; godless; impious. See Impious.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(profanes, profaning, profaned) 1. Profane behaviour shows disrespect for a religion or religious things. (FORMAL) ...profane language. ADJ 2. Something that is profane is concerned with everyday life rather than religion and spiritual things. Cardinal Daly has said that churches should not be used for profane or secular purposes. ? spiritual ADJ 3. If someone profanes a religious belief or institution, they treat it with disrespect. (FORMAL) They have profaned the long upheld traditions of the Church. VERB: V n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

pro-fan' (verb chalal, adjective chalal, chol; bebeloo, bebelos): From profanus, "before (i.e. outside) the temple," therefore unholy, polluted, secular, is of frequent occurrence (verb and adjective) in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It occurs as the translation of chol in the King James Version only in Eze (22:26, the Revised Version (British and American) "common"; 42:20; 44:23; 48:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "for common use"); as the translation of chalal in Le 21:7,14, the Revised Version margin "polluted"; and Eze 21:25, where, for the King James Version "thou profane wicked prince of Israel," the Revised Version (British and American) has "thou, O deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel." "To profane" (chalal) is seen in Le 18:21; 19:8; Ne 13:17,18; Ps 89:39; Isa 43:28; Eze 22:8,26, etc. "Profaneness" in Jer 23:15 (chanuppah) is in the American Standard Revised Version "ungodliness." In the New Testament "profane" occurs in the sense of unholy, godless, regardless of God and divine things (1Ti 1:9; 4:7; 6:20; 2Ti 2:16; Heb 12:16), and "to profane," or violate, in Mt 12:5; Ac 24:6. The verb is frequent in Apocrypha in 1 Macc (1:43,45,63; 2:34, etc.; also in 2 Macc 8:2; 10:5; compare 2 Esdras 15:8; Judith 4:3,12; 1 Macc 1:48; 2 Macc 4:13). In numerous cases the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "profane" for other words and phrases in the King James Version, as for "to prostitute" (Le 19:29), "an hypocrite" (Isa 9:17), "pollute" (Nu 18:32; Eze 7:21), etc.

W. L. Walker

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Irreverent, irreligious, blasphemous, wicked, sacrilegious, impious, ungodly, godless. 2. Unhallowed, impure, polluted, unholy, unconsecrated, unsanctified. 3. Secular, not sacred, temporal, worldly. II. v. a. 1. Desecrate, pollute, violate. 2. Abuse, debase.

Moby Thesaurus

Fescennine, Philistine, Rabelaisian, abuse, abusive, apostate, atheistic, backsliding, bad, bawdy, befoul, blasphemous, blue, calumniatory, calumnious, carnal, carnal-minded, coarse, comminatory, commit sacrilege, common, contaminate, contemptuous, contumelious, convert, corrupt, cursing, damnatory, debase, defalcate, defile, defiled, degrade, denunciatory, desecrate, dirty, disbelieving, dishonor, disrespectful, divert, dysphemistic, earthly, earthy, embezzle, epithetic, ethnic, excommunicative, excommunicatory, execratory, fallen, fallen from grace, filthy, fleshly, foul, foul-mouthed, fulminatory, gentile, godless, heathen, idolatrous, immodest, impious, imprecatory, improper, impure, indecent, indecorous, indelicate, infidel, infidelic, iniquitous, irreligious, irreverent, lapsed, lay, low, maladminister, maledictory, material, materialistic, misapply, misappropriate, misemploy, mishandle, mismanage, misuse, mundane, nasty, naughty, nonsacred, obscene, off color, pagan, peculate, pervert, pilfer, pollute, profanatory, prostitute, raunchy, raw, recidivist, recidivistic, recreant, renegade, reprobate, ribald, risque, sacrilegious, scatologic, scurrile, scurrilous, secular, sinful, smutty, taboo, taint, temporal, terrestrial, the fleshly, the mundane, the profane, the secular, the temporal, the unholy, the worldly, tref, unbelieving, unblessed, unclean, uncouth, undutiful, ungodly, unhallowed, unholy, unmentionable, unprintable, unregenerate, unsacred, unsanctified, unspiritual, venomous, vile, violate, vitiate, vituperative, vulgar, wicked, worldly