Adjacent Words

Sacrilege definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SAC'RILEGE, n. [L. sacrilegium; sacer, sacred, and lego, to take or steal.]
The crime of violating or profaning sacred things; or the alienating to laymen or to common purposes what has been appropriated or consecrated to religious persons or uses.
And the hid treasures in her sacred tomb with sacrilege to dig.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character; "desecration of the Holy Sabbath" [syn: profanation, desecration, blasphemy, sacrilege]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin sacrilegium, from sacrilegus one who robs sacred property, from sacr-, sacer + legere to gather, steal — more at legend Date: 14th century 1. a technical and not necessarily intrinsically outrageous violation (as improper reception of a sacrament) of what is sacred because consecrated to God 2. gross irreverence toward a hallowed person, place, or thing • sacrilegious adjective • sacrilegiously adverb • sacrilegiousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred. Derivatives: sacrilegious adj. sacrilegiously adv. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L sacrilegium f. sacrilegus stealer of sacred things, f. sacer sacri sacred + legere take possession of

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sacrilege Sac"ri*lege, n. [F. sacril[`e]ge, L. sacrilegium, from sacrilegus that steals, properly, gathers or picks up, sacred things; sacer sacred + legere to gather, pick up. See Sacred, and Legend.] The sin or crime of violating or profaning sacred things; the alienating to laymen, or to common purposes, what has been appropriated or consecrated to religious persons or uses. And the hid treasures in her sacred tomb With sacrilege to dig. --Spenser. Families raised upon the ruins of churches, and enriched with the spoils of sacrilege. --South.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Sacrilege is behaviour that shows great disrespect for a holy place or object. Stealing from a place of worship was regarded as sacrilege. N-UNCOUNT: also a N 2. You can use sacrilege to refer to disrespect that is shown for someone who is widely admired or for a belief that is widely accepted. It is a sacrilege to offend democracy. N-UNCOUNT: also a N

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sak'-ri-lej: For "commit sacrilege" in Ro 2:22 (the King James Version and the English Revised Version margin), the Revised Version (British and American) has "rob temples," which more exactly expresses the meaning of the verb (hierosuleo; compare Ac 19:37, "robbers of temples" (which see)). The noun occurs in 2 Macc 4:39 (the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)) for the corresponding form hierosulema.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Profanation, desecration, violation.

Moby Thesaurus

abomination, abuse, atrocity, befouling, befoulment, blasphemousness, blasphemy, contamination, crime, debasement, defilement, desecration, disgrace, dishonoring, disrespect, fouling, heresy, ignominy, impiety, impiousness, infamy, irreverence, maltreatment, misuse, offense, outrage, perversion, pity, profanation, profaneness, profanity, prostitution, sacrilegiousness, scandal, secularization, shame, sin, terrible thing, violation, vitiation