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
  • Daniel Ojukwu, with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, or FIJ, a local investigative media house, was jailed on a 12-count charge accusing him of violating the country's cybercrime act, pending a bail hearing.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 12 Nov. 2026
  • Rodriguez’s lawyers argued that Garcia’s participation in the recount process violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 12 Nov. 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

Browse Nearby Words

desanctifies
desanctify
desanctifying
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Cite this Entry

“Desanctify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desanctify. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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