Synonyms of profanation

profanation

noun

ˌprä-fə-ˈnā-shən 

as in sacrilege

an act of great disrespect shown to God or to sacred ideas, people, or things

the First Book of the Maccabees tells of the profanation of the temple of Jerusalem by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 b.c.

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sacrilege
• desecration
• blasphemy
• violation
• impiety
• corruption
• cursing
• irreverence
• defilement
• insult
• sin
• contamination
• affront
• swearing
• pollution
• profanity
• trespass
• debasement

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• worship
• purification
• adoration
• consecration
• reverence
• glorification
• veneration
• sanctification

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of profanation

Scottish hen parties were deemed to contain ritualistic profanation. — Victor J. Blue, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; ’Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. — John Edgar Wideman, The New Yorker, 8 July 2021

The first assault is on the Nile itself, which is turned to blood, thereby ruining both agriculture and aquaculture in one swoop, a profanation with religious consequences. — Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 28 Nov. 2019

His family has argued that the exhumation would amount to profanation of a burial site, and said the only alternative resting place for Franco should be inside the crypt of the Madrid cathedral, a suggestion that the government found unacceptable. — Raphael Minder, New York Times, 4 June 2019