Profane

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1
A person or thing that is profane.
"The nuns were employed in religious duties established in honour of St Clare, and to which no profane was ever admitted."
2
A person not a Mason.

Verb

1
To violate (something sacred); to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate transitive
"One should not profane the name of God."
2
violate the sacred character of a place or language wordnet
3
To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to debase; to abuse; to defile. transitive
4
corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality wordnet

Adjective

1
Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
"Nothing is profane that serveth to the use of holy things."
2
Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.
"profane authors"
3
Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or scorn; blasphemous, impious.
4
Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain.
"a profane person, word, oath, or tongue"

Adjective

1
characterized by profanity or cursing wordnet
2
grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred wordnet
3
not holy because unconsecrated or impure or defiled wordnet
4
not concerned with or devoted to religion wordnet

Synonyms

blasphemous corrupt desecrate desecrate godless impious

Antonyms

blessed faithful holy orthodox

Example

"The profane language used on network television makes many parents with young children not want to subscribe to cable."

Etymology

From Middle French prophane, from Latin profānus (“not religious, unclean”), from pro- (“before”) + fānum (“temple”).

Related phrases

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