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

Some places offer the option of adding cheese, but any true Chicagoan knows that doing so is sacrilegious. —Aaron Hutcherson, Washington Post, 25 June 2024

Boiling Donnie Yen down to one film, boiling the Ip Man series down to one film, even, might seem sacrilegious. —Vikram Murthi, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2024

Disney producing a movie about the backstage drama of one of its most iconic creations may seem borderline sacrilegious, but the studio instead delivers a warm cinematic embrace. —EW.com, 13 May 2024

Faith leaders: Trump is ‘sacrilegious’ Multiple speakers Thursday criticized Trump for selling a Bible during the campaign. —Mary Ramsey, Charlotte Observer, 10 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined above

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