Search Result for "profane": 
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (2)

1. corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality;
- Example: "debauch the young people with wine and women"
- Example: "Socrates was accused of corrupting young men"
- Example: "Do school counselors subvert young children?"
- Example: "corrupt the morals"
[syn: corrupt, pervert, subvert, demoralize, demoralise, debauch, debase, profane, vitiate, deprave, misdirect]

2. violate the sacred character of a place or language;
- Example: "desecrate a cemetery"
- Example: "violate the sanctity of the church"
- Example: "profane the name of God"
[syn: desecrate, profane, outrage, violate]


ADJECTIVE (4)

1. characterized by profanity or cursing;
- Example: "foul-mouthed and blasphemous"
- Example: "blue language"
- Example: "profane words"
[syn: blasphemous, blue, profane]

2. not concerned with or devoted to religion;
- Example: "sacred and profane music"
- Example: "secular drama"
- Example: "secular architecture", "children being brought up in an entirely profane environment"
[syn: profane, secular]

3. not holy because unconsecrated or impure or defiled;
[syn: profane, unconsecrated, unsanctified]

4. grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred;
- Example: "blasphemous rites of a witches' Sabbath"
- Example: "profane utterances against the Church"
- Example: "it is sacrilegious to enter with shoes on"
[syn: blasphemous, profane, sacrilegious]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Profane \Pro*fane"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Profaned; p. pr. & vb. n. Profaning.] [L. profanare: cf. F. profaner. See Profane, a.] [1913 Webster] 1. To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God. [1913 Webster] The priests in the temple profane the sabbath. --Matt. xii. 5. [1913 Webster] 2. To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile. [1913 Webster] So idly to profane the precious time. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Profane \Pro*fane"\, a. [F., fr. L. profanus, properly, before the temple, i. e., without the temple, unholy; pro before + fanum temple. See 1st Fane.] [1913 Webster] 1. Not sacred or holy; not possessing peculiar sanctity; unconsecrated; hence, relating to matters other than sacred; secular; -- opposed to sacred, religious, or inspired; as, a profane place. "Profane authors." --I. Disraeli. [1913 Webster] The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine. --Gibbon. [1913 Webster] 2. Unclean; impure; polluted; unholy. [1913 Webster] Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things. --Sir W. Raleigh. [1913 Webster] 3. Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or undue familiarity; irreverent; impious. Hence, specifically; Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a profane person, word, oath, or tongue. --1 Tim. i. 9. [1913 Webster] Syn: Secular; temporal; worldly; unsanctified; unhallowed; unholy; irreligious; irreverent; ungodly; wicked; godless; impious. See Impious. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

profane adj 1: characterized by profanity or cursing; "foul-mouthed and blasphemous"; "blue language"; "profane words" [syn: blasphemous, blue, profane] 2: not concerned with or devoted to religion; "sacred and profane music"; "secular drama"; "secular architecture", "children being brought up in an entirely profane environment" [syn: profane, secular] [ant: sacred] 3: not holy because unconsecrated or impure or defiled [syn: profane, unconsecrated, unsanctified] 4: grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred; "blasphemous rites of a witches' Sabbath"; "profane utterances against the Church"; "it is sacrilegious to enter with shoes on" [syn: blasphemous, profane, sacrilegious] v 1: corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality; "debauch the young people with wine and women"; "Socrates was accused of corrupting young men"; "Do school counselors subvert young children?"; "corrupt the morals" [syn: corrupt, pervert, subvert, demoralize, demoralise, debauch, debase, profane, vitiate, deprave, misdirect] 2: violate the sacred character of a place or language; "desecrate a cemetery"; "violate the sanctity of the church"; "profane the name of God" [syn: desecrate, profane, outrage, violate]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

149 Moby Thesaurus words for "profane": Fescennine, Philistine, Rabelaisian, abuse, abusive, apostate, atheistic, backsliding, bad, bawdy, befoul, blasphemous, blue, calumniatory, calumnious, carnal, carnal-minded, coarse, comminatory, commit sacrilege, common, contaminate, contemptuous, contumelious, convert, corrupt, cursing, damnatory, debase, defalcate, defile, defiled, degrade, denunciatory, desecrate, dirty, disbelieving, dishonor, disrespectful, divert, dysphemistic, earthly, earthy, embezzle, epithetic, ethnic, excommunicative, excommunicatory, execratory, fallen, fallen from grace, filthy, fleshly, foul, foul-mouthed, fulminatory, gentile, godless, heathen, idolatrous, immodest, impious, imprecatory, improper, impure, indecent, indecorous, indelicate, infidel, infidelic, iniquitous, irreligious, irreverent, lapsed, lay, low, maladminister, maledictory, material, materialistic, misapply, misappropriate, misemploy, mishandle, mismanage, misuse, mundane, nasty, naughty, nonsacred, obscene, off color, pagan, peculate, pervert, pilfer, pollute, profanatory, prostitute, raunchy, raw, recidivist, recidivistic, recreant, renegade, reprobate, ribald, risque, sacrilegious, scatologic, scurrile, scurrilous, secular, sinful, smutty, taboo, taint, temporal, terrestrial, the fleshly, the mundane, the profane, the secular, the temporal, the unholy, the worldly, tref, unbelieving, unblessed, unclean, uncouth, undutiful, ungodly, unhallowed, unholy, unmentionable, unprintable, unregenerate, unsacred, unsanctified, unspiritual, venomous, vile, violate, vitiate, vituperative, vulgar, wicked, worldly
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

PROFANE. That which has not been consecrated. By a profane place is understood one which is neither sacred, nor sanctified, nor religious. Dig. 11, 7, 2, 4. Vide Things.