What does "desecration" mean?

An act of disrespect or impiety towards something considered sacred.

What is a synonym for "desecration"?

Common synonyms include: profanation, blasphemy, blasphemy, profanation, sacrilege, sacrilege.

Pronounced //dɛ.sɪˈkɹeɪ.ʃən//.

//dɛ.sɪˈkɹeɪ.ʃən// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
An act of disrespect or impiety towards something considered sacred. countable, uncountable
"It seemed a desecration and an unhallowed thing to touch that sleeping image of the live man by my side."
2
blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character wordnet

"Some critics have called the restoration of the Chartres cathedral a "scandalous desecration of a cultural holy place.""

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.