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
When Melanson failed to comply with Lino’s instructions, Lino allegedly beat the older man with a baseball bat and then desecrated his corpse.
—
Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald, 5 Aug. 2025
That a woman's life — her body, her dreams, her joy — cannot be desecrated without consequence.
—Ariela Lopez, jsonline.com, 2 Aug. 2025
During the French Revolution, Louis XIV’s tomb was desecrated and his remains scattered.
—Helen I. Bennett, Hartford Courant, 23 July 2025
By his own account, Hanson engaged in an escalating intimidation campaign to collect, first having videos of cartel beheadings mailed to Cipriani, and then later paying for someone to desecrate Cipriani’s mother’s grave.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for desecrate
Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald, 5 Aug. 2025
That a woman's life — her body, her dreams, her joy — cannot be desecrated without consequence.
—Ariela Lopez, jsonline.com, 2 Aug. 2025
During the French Revolution, Louis XIV’s tomb was desecrated and his remains scattered.
—Helen I. Bennett, Hartford Courant, 23 July 2025
By his own account, Hanson engaged in an escalating intimidation campaign to collect, first having videos of cartel beheadings mailed to Cipriani, and then later paying for someone to desecrate Cipriani’s mother’s grave.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for desecrate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desecrate
violate
Verb
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In summer 2024, another complaint focused on the classified documents case, accusing the FBI of violating his privacy with the Mar-a-Lago raid and the DOJ of malicious prosecution.—
Kinsey Crowley,
USA Today,
22 Oct. 2025
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The Kelly administration has refused to comply, contending that doing so would be a privacy breach that violates state and federal law because the USDA has indicated the data could be shared with outside groups.—
Matthew Kelly,
Kansas City Star,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desecrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desecrate. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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