1
as in degrades
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
the once-lovely landscape had been profaned by ugly factories
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in abuses
to put to a bad or improper use
profaned his considerable acting talents by appearing in some wretched movies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in violates
to treat (a sacred place or object) shamefully or with great disrespect
invading troops profaned the altar by playing poker on it
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for profanes
Verb
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Similarly, the Waterloo team engineered a cascade reaction pathway that incrementally degrades plastic polymers into acetic acid.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Feb. 2026 -
Shields protect us from radiation, which degrades pretty much every tissue in the human body.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Malware often abuses them to take control of your device.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
14 Feb. 2026
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As a child, Heathcliff’s main tormenter is Cathy’s brother, Hindley, who physically abuses Heathcliff and forces him to work in the stables as a servant.—
Becky Little,
Time,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Announcing a voter’s party preference out loud violates that rule.—
Tiffani Jackson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
24 Feb. 2026
-
But in January last year, the South African parliament approved a land Expropriation Act, which critics say violates that constitution.—
Anderson Cooper,
CBS News,
23 Feb. 2026
Verb
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His relationship with his Jewish neighbors, the Brodskys, grows closer as Nazi power corrupts France.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2026
-
As Jay Jonah Atterbury, one of a handful of new characters on the fourth season of Industry, Kal Penn weaponizes and corrupts the stoner quirks viewers may recognize from his years playing Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar films.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
12 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Nothing beats cuteness except watching violence be enacted upon the cuteness; like an aural Happy Tree Friends, Skulls tosses pom-poms of fuzz into the sky then desecrates them.—
Kieran Press-Reynolds,
Pitchfork,
17 Dec. 2025
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In the world of Monster, a person who takes lives and desecrates corpses might someday be capable of redemption.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Thecla humiliates him by ripping his robe and tearing the wreath off his head.—
Christy Cobb,
The Conversation,
16 Jan. 2026
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To show him who’s boss, Catherine turns around and buys Pac-North, humiliates him by closing it, and forces him back to Grey Sloan.—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
9 Oct. 2025
Verb
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While most women figure skaters are known to sport pristine buns and dance to very predictable classics and pop songs, Alysa Liu subverts the norm.—
Lea Veloso,
StyleCaster,
20 Feb. 2026
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Gourault often subverts the extractivist logic of new media technologies and employs open-source investigation in the production of his films.—
Farren Fei Yuan,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Privacy advocates argue that any ambiguity around storage or deletion timelines weakens public confidence.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
20 Feb. 2026
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Sending young people far from home weakens support systems and makes outcomes worse.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
20 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Profanes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/profanes. Accessed 1 Mar. 2026.
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