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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Tuesday’s announcement comes after Israel accused Hamas of violating the truce by firing on Israeli forces in Rafah and reneging on promises to return missing hostage remains.—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
29 Oct. 2025
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In a complaint filed in 2023, Gannett and the other plaintiffs accused Google of violating federal antitrust laws by abusing its dominant position to control and profit from the technology used by publishers to buy and sell ads across the internet.—
USA TODAY,
USA TODAY,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desecrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desecrate. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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