desanctify

verb

(ˌ)dē-ˈsaŋ(k)-tə-ˌfī How to pronounce desanctify (audio)
Definition of desanctifynext
as in to violate
to remove the sacred qualities or status of desanctified the church building and converted it into condos

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of desanctify Someone may have removed these features in an attempt to desanctify the religious icon, according to a government statement. — Nora McGreevy, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 June 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desanctify
  1. violate
  2. desacralize
  3. deconsecrate
Verb
  • In 2012, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that a Costa Rican court’s ban on IVF violated the human right to private and family life and the human right to found and raise a family.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Trump administration officials in his first term were alleged to have repeatedly violated the Hatch Act with no penalty.
    — Alayna Treene, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of violate
Verb
  • Aguilar thinks the basilica should be desacralized and turned into a museum.
    — Stephania Taladrid, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2019
  • Rumor and street culture—jokes, postcards, sayings, bawdy plays performed in saloons—changed the image of the czar and the czarina, desacralized them, before and during the war.
    — Olga Ingurazova, Smithsonian, 29 Sep. 2017
Definition of desacralize
Verb
  • Installed in a church, the artwork titled Silentium by French conceptual artist James Calomina, was exhibited in a former church in Toulouse that was deconsecrated.
    — The Editors of ARTnews, ARTnews.com, 6 Nov. 2024
  • But the seminal Spanish-language church was deconsecrated by the Archdiocese of New York in January, paving the way for its potential sale, alteration or demolition.
    — John Freeman Gill, New York Times, 2 June 2023
Definition of deconsecrate

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Cite this Entry

“Desanctify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desanctify. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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