as in to violate
to treat (a sacred place or object) shamefully or with great disrespect
vandals desecrated the cemetery last night by covering the tombstones with graffiti
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Recent Examples of desecrate
Officials determined that a total of 26 underground vaults and mausoleums were broken into or desecrated from November 2025 until the day Gerlach was caught.
—
Alexandra Simon, CBS News, 8 Jan. 2026
Nothing beats cuteness except watching violence be enacted upon the cuteness; like an aural Happy Tree Friends, Skulls tosses pom-poms of fuzz into the sky then desecrates them.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 17 Dec. 2025
In 1993, White Supremacists in Billings desecrated a Jewish cemetery, sent bomb threats to a synagogue and threw a brick at a menorah in the window of a five-year-old Jewish boy.
—David Goldman, CNN Money, 16 Dec. 2025
Public monuments and art were desecrated all over the country.
—Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 3 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for desecrate
Alexandra Simon, CBS News, 8 Jan. 2026
Nothing beats cuteness except watching violence be enacted upon the cuteness; like an aural Happy Tree Friends, Skulls tosses pom-poms of fuzz into the sky then desecrates them.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 17 Dec. 2025
In 1993, White Supremacists in Billings desecrated a Jewish cemetery, sent bomb threats to a synagogue and threw a brick at a menorah in the window of a five-year-old Jewish boy.
—David Goldman, CNN Money, 16 Dec. 2025
Public monuments and art were desecrated all over the country.
—Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 3 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for desecrate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desecrate
violate
Verb
-
Uthmeier said the Rooney Rule violates Florida law.—
Mac Engel
March 30,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Killing a civilian scientist would violate international law.—
David D. Kirkpatrick,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Desecrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desecrate. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
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