SACRILEGIOUS Synonyms: 40 Similar and Opposite Words

sacrilegious

adjective

ˌsa-krə-ˈli-jəs

Definition of sacrilegious

as in blasphemous

not showing proper reverence for the holy or sacred a sacrilegious, obscene joke—and told in church at that!

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of sacrilegious Even the recipe deemed sacrilegious in Carbonaragate cannot evoke the same dramatic reactions or touch the same sensitivities that surround cheese—a relationship that, like wine and bread, is often inseparable from faith, sometimes quite literally. — Literary Hub, 11 June 2026 In any other context, a house of God smattered with people staring at their phones, trusting AI to speak to them, might feel sacrilegious. — Andrew R. Chow, Time, 26 May 2026 Call me sacrilegious, but there’s one place that a King’s Hawaiian roll tastes even better than the altar rail, and that’s at the beach. — Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 25 May 2026 To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. — Jeremy Mennis, The Conversation, 1 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for sacrilegious

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sacrilegious

Adjective

The publication led to global outrage, with many Muslims finding the depictions highly offensive and blasphemous.

— USA Today, USA Today, 15 Sep. 2026
The image of him, his attire a blasphemous betrayal of the wholesome fun a clown costume promises, and with vibrant, colorful balloons in his hand, lingers in our minds for a long time.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of blasphemous

Adjective

Many other traditionalists have made a version of Scruton’s critique, insisting that contemporary art reflects self-indulgent, relativistic, and impious tendencies.

— Luis Parrales, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2026
While no formal announcement has been made to update its longstanding alcohol ban, Andrew Leber of Tulane University said this is in line with the Kingdom’s past approach to such potentially impious reforms.

— Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025

Definition of impious

Adjective

France, a secular nation where the separation of church and state is enshrined in a 1905 law, has witnessed a steady decline in affiliation to the Catholic Church during the post-war era.

— Joshua McElwee, Arkansas Online, 26 Sep. 2026
But statistics and experts caution that the uptick, which has also been recorded in secular Spain, doesn’t counteract the overall downward trend.

— Nicole Winfield, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of secular

Adjective

His father's death during World War II influenced his pursuit of the ministry even amid the officially atheistic communist regime of the Soviet Union, according to his obituary on the OCU website.

— ABC News, ABC News, 20 Mar. 2026
But there has been a recent rise in secular congregations that explicitly mimic religious organizations and rituals to celebrate atheistic worldviews.

— Jacqui Frost, The Conversation, 11 Jan. 2024

Definition of atheistic

Adjective

The expert was expected to say the positioning of the bodies, the branches on the remains, the outdoor location of the crime and knife wounds to the victims all were indications of pagan rituals.

— ABC News, ABC News, 21 Sep. 2026
Defense attorneys planned to present a theory that the two girls were killed in a pagan ritual by Odinists.

— Jenny Porter Tilley, IndyStar, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of pagan

Browse Nearby Words

sacrileges

sacrilegious

sacrilegiousness

See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

Style

“Sacrilegious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sacrilegious. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of sacrilegious

adjective

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

adventitious

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes