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 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

Synonyms

• blasphemous
• impious
• irreverent
• profane

Examples of sacrilegious in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

This declaration should not be mistaken for vain clickbait or an attempt to be sacrilegious. —Dr. Marcus Collins, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024

Putting Vice and the Bard in the same sentence sounds sacrilegious, but the movie paints Lynne Cheney as a Lady MacBeth type and requires Adams to recite iambic pentameter about Dick’s capacity to usurp some of George W. Bush’s authority. —Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024

For some, pumpkin pie is the staple, and any other choice would be sacrilegious. —Leah Asmelash, CNN, 27 Nov. 2024

The cartoon images were deeply offensive to many Muslims, who viewed them as sacrilegious. —David Faris, Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined above

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