1.
[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