Search Result for "sacrilege": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character;
- Example: "desecration of the Holy Sabbath"
[syn: profanation, desecration, blasphemy, sacrilege]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Sacrilege \Sac"ri*lege\, n. [F. sacril[`e]ge, L. sacrilegium, from sacrilegus that steals, properly, gathers or picks up, sacred things; sacer sacred + legere to gather, pick up. See Sacred, and Legend.] The sin or crime of violating or profaning sacred things; the alienating to laymen, or to common purposes, what has been appropriated or consecrated to religious persons or uses. [1913 Webster] And the hid treasures in her sacred tomb With sacrilege to dig. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] Families raised upon the ruins of churches, and enriched with the spoils of sacrilege. --South. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

sacrilege n 1: blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character; "desecration of the Holy Sabbath" [syn: profanation, desecration, blasphemy, sacrilege]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

40 Moby Thesaurus words for "sacrilege": abomination, abuse, atrocity, befouling, befoulment, blasphemousness, blasphemy, contamination, crime, debasement, defilement, desecration, disgrace, dishonoring, disrespect, fouling, heresy, ignominy, impiety, impiousness, infamy, irreverence, maltreatment, misuse, offense, outrage, perversion, pity, profanation, profaneness, profanity, prostitution, sacrilegiousness, scandal, secularization, shame, sin, terrible thing, violation, vitiation