sacrilegious
adjective
sac·ri·le·gious
ˌsa-krə-ˈli-jəs 
also
-ˈlē-
: 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 religionMary C. BoysIt 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
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
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
Quin Hilyer
Examples of sacrilegious in a Sentence
a sacrilegious, obscene joke—and told in church at that!
Recent Examples on the Web
Eisenman’s Jewish perspective is most obvious in her work of the ’90s, which approaches religious material in a way that can only be called sacrilegious.
—Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 9 Aug. 2024
Despite feeling borderline sacrilegious, the open-air bar feels typically Niçois; the space is framed by potted olive trees and lit by twinkling fairy lights, with sweet little corners filled with candles and comfortable seating, and a chess board that is often the center of attention.
—Chloé Braithwaite, New York Times, 25 July 2024
Eric Radack, Santa Fe, N.M. As a 27-year-old gay man and a proud liberal, the thought of supporting Donald Trump feels almost sacrilegious.
—Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 22 July 2024
Griswold—whose father, once the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, consecrated the denomination’s first openly gay bishop—treats the pastors generously, though gingerly, constructing from their lowest moments an affecting study of sacred life in sacrilegious times.
—Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for sacrilegious 
Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 9 Aug. 2024
Despite feeling borderline sacrilegious, the open-air bar feels typically Niçois; the space is framed by potted olive trees and lit by twinkling fairy lights, with sweet little corners filled with candles and comfortable seating, and a chess board that is often the center of attention.
—Chloé Braithwaite, New York Times, 25 July 2024
Eric Radack, Santa Fe, N.M. As a 27-year-old gay man and a proud liberal, the thought of supporting Donald Trump feels almost sacrilegious.
—Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 22 July 2024
Griswold—whose father, once the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, consecrated the denomination’s first openly gay bishop—treats the pastors generously, though gingerly, constructing from their lowest moments an affecting study of sacred life in sacrilegious times.
—Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for sacrilegious
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sacrilegious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near sacrilegious
Cite this Entry
“Sacrilegious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sacrilegious. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.
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