sacrilegious

adjective

sac·​ri·​le·​gious ˌsa-krə-ˈli-jəs How to pronounce sacrilegious (audio)
also
-ˈlē- How to pronounce sacrilegious (audio)
: committing or characterized by sacrilege : having or showing a lack of proper respect for a sacred person, place, or object
sacrilegious acts
It is difficult for religiously committed persons to acknowledge that their sacred texts are prone to sacrilegious uses.Mary C. Boys
often used in an exaggerated way in contexts unrelated to religion
It would be sacrilegious to cut down such beautiful trees.
Chilling your red wines may seem sacrilegious to some, and downright odd to others.Tess Rose Lampert
sacrilegiously adverb
In the center of the rich red carpet was a black and gold Louis Quinze table, a lovely antique, now sacrilegiously desecrated with marks of glasses and the scars of cigar-stumps. Arthur Conan Doyle
sacrilegiousness noun
… these examples of … insensitivity to (if not sacrilegiousness or profanation of) the deeply held beliefs of some 200 million-plus Americans. Quin Hilyer

Examples of sacrilegious in a Sentence

a sacrilegious, obscene joke—and told in church at that!

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of sacrilegious was in 1582

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Cite this Entry

“Sacrilegious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sacrilegious. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.

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