Some critics have called the restoration of the Chartres cathedral a "scandalous desecration of a cultural holy place."
Source: tatoeba (6284921)
Desecration
//dɛ.sɪˈkɹeɪ.ʃən//
Synonyms for "desecration" (52 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (11)
Strong matches (15)
Related words (26)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
2 entriesSynonyms
3 entriesRelated terms
1 entriesderived
2 entriesderived from
1 entriesrelated to
6 entriesTranslations
37 translations across 26 languages.
Armenian
1 entries- սրբապղծություն noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Belarusian
1 entries- апага́ненне noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Bulgarian
1 entries- оскверня́ване noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Catalan
1 entries- profanació noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Chinese Mandarin
2 entries- 污辱 noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- 褻瀆 /亵渎 noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Danish
1 entries- vanhelligelse noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Dutch
2 entries- heiligschennis noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- ontheiliging noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Finnish
3 entries- häpäiseminen noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- häpäisy noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- häväistys noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
French
1 entries- profanation noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
German
4 entries- Entheiligung noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- Entweihung noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- Profanation noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- Profanierung noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Greek
1 entries- βεβήλωση noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Hebrew
1 entries- חילול \ חִלּוּל noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Hungarian
1 entries- megszentségtelenítés noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Indonesian
1 entries- desekrasi noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Italian
1 entries- dissacrazione noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Japanese
1 entries- 冒涜 noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Middle English
1 entries- pollucion noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Māori
1 entries- whakapokenga noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Polish
2 entries- profanacja noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- zbezczeszczenie noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Portuguese
1 entries- profanação noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Romanian
1 entries- profanare noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Russian
3 entries- надруга́тельство noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- оскверне́ние noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
- профана́ция noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Scottish Gaelic
1 entries- mì-choisrigeadh noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Spanish
1 entries- profanación noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Swedish
1 entries- skändning noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Ukrainian
1 entries- профана́ція noun (act of disrespect towards sacred)
Sample sentences
4 total sentences available.
Friendship was a sacred thing in the eyes of this little German, and he was much horrified at this cruel desecration just revealed to him.
Source: tatoeba (11796378)
It seemed a desecration and an unhallowed thing to touch that sleeping image of the live man by my side.
Source: wiktionary
In the same year as the Furness objection, sadder tidings befell St Pancras Priory at Lewes, in East Sussex. Despite it having the distinction of being the earliest Cluniac monastery in Great Britain, petitions to prevent the Brighton Lewes & Hastings Railway from imposing on its site with its Lewes line failed. The line was approved and, as if as an act of deliberate desecration and assertion of the railways' power, passed over the site of the high altar.
Source: wiktionary
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.