SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
sacrilegious
adjective
Showing disrespect toward something regarded as sacred.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Disrespecting the sacred
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topSacrilegious concerns violation or misuse of something sacred. Disrespectful is broader, and irreligious does not necessarily imply an act of desecration.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See sacrilegious in use
The character's sacrilegious joke offends the temple's guardians.
In the fantasy novel, using a revered ceremonial cloth as a floor rag is sacrilegious to the community that regards the cloth as sacred.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license