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
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
To approximate that art entirely by proxy, without confronting the drama, is to desecrate it.
—Sheldon Pearce, NPR, 17 June 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
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
To approximate that art entirely by proxy, without confronting the drama, is to desecrate it.
—Sheldon Pearce, NPR, 17 June 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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Since then Russia is suspected of testing NATO’s resolve by violating the airspace of Norway, Romania, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, and now Germany too.—
Robert Birsel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Oct. 2025
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Though Russian craft have repeatedly violated NATO airspace during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the shootdowns over Poland represented the first time NATO had shot down Russian drones.—
David Brennan,
ABC News,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desecrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desecrate. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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