Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred: Describes an action, behavior, or attitude that shows profound disrespect or violation towards something considered holy, divine, or deeply revered by a religion or belief system.
   • Involving the violation or misuse of what is sacred: Can refer to the act of treating a sacred object, place, or concept in a profane or inappropriate manner.

Usage and Examples

• Adjective:
  • The act of stealing from the ancient temple was considered deeply sacrilegious.
  • Many believers felt the artist's depiction of the deity was sacrilegious.
  • It is sacrilegious to treat the holy scriptures with such casual disregard.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• Cultural and Contextual Sensitivity: What is deemed sacrilegious is entirely dependent on the specific religious or cultural context. An action considered normal in one culture might be sacrilegious in another.
• Degree of Offense: The term implies a severe, shocking, or gross violation, not a minor or accidental disrespect.
• "Sacrilegious act": A common collocation emphasizing the specific action that constitutes the violation.
  • Desecrating the grave was a sacrilegious act that outraged the community.

Variants and Related Words

• Sacrilege (noun): The act, instance, or crime of being sacrilegious.
  • Vandalizing the church was an act of sacrilege.
• Sacrilegiously (adverb): In a sacrilegious manner.
  • He sacrilegiously used the altar as a table.

Synonyms

• Blasphemous: Showing contempt or lack of reverence for God or sacred things. (Often used interchangeably, though "blasphemous" can be more specifically verbal.)
• Profane: Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, or irreverence.
• Irreverent: Lacking respect. (A broader, often less severe term than "sacrilegious.")
• Desecrating: Actively damaging or violating the sacred character of a place or object.

Antonyms

• Reverent: Feeling or showing deep and solemn respect.
• Pious: Devoutly religious.
• Sacred: Connected with God or a god; deserving veneration.

Idioms and Common Phrases

• Consider it sacrilegious: To view something as a profound violation of the sacred.
  • Traditionalists consider it sacrilegious to alter the ancient ritual.
• Border on the sacrilegious: To be very close to being sacrilegious.
  • His flippant comments about the ceremony bordered on the sacrilegious.

Adjective

1. grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred
   • blasphemous rites of a witches' Sabbath
   • profane utterances against the Church
   • it is sacrilegious to enter with shoes on