Blasphemy
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An act of irreverence or contempt toward a god or toward something considered sacred; an impious act, utterance, view, etc. countable, uncountable
"That imam said that drawing the prophet Muhammad was a form of blasphemy."
- 2 blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character wordnet
- 3 An act of irreverence towards anything considered inviolable; the act of disregarding a convention. broadly, countable, uncountable
"Some historical information is given on the Panormo family of guitar makers and a whole chapter is called, "Maccaferri's 'Monstrosity'," the name given Julian's Maccaferri guitar due to the blasphemy of its having more than six strings, […]"
- 4 blasphemous language (expressing disrespect for God or for something sacred) wordnet
Example
More examples"If throughout your life you abstain from murder, theft, fornication, perjury, blasphemy, and disrespect toward your parents, your church, and your king, you are conventionally held to deserve moral admiration even if you have never done a single kind or generous or useful action."
Etymology
From Middle English blasfemie, from Old French blasfemie, from Ecclesiastical Latin blasphēmia, from Ancient Greek βλασφημία (blasphēmía, “profanity”), from βλασφημέω (blasphēméō, “to slander”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.