sacrilegious

adjective

ˌsa-krə-ˈli-jəs How to pronounce sacrilegious (audio)
Definition of sacrilegiousnext
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

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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 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 Burstyn concerned a short film directed by Roberto Rossellini called The Miracle (1948) that had been banned in New York as sacrilegious. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Apr. 2026 The president's post was interpreted as sacrilegious even by those who usually support him. — Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 13 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for sacrilegious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sacrilegious
  1. blasphemous
  2. impious
  3. secular
  4. atheistic
  5. irreverent
  6. pagan
Adjective
  • Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, denounced the book as blasphemous, leading to a call for Rushdie's death in 1989, according to the Department of Justice.
    — Thao Nguyen, USA Today, 30 July 2026
  • Some Muslims saw it as blasphemous, and often-violent protests erupted against Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim family.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 22 July 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
  • These and other initiatives are focusing on secular Jews and adherents to Reform Judaism.
    — Giovanna Dell'Orto, Fortune, 31 July 2026
  • Those protests insisting on secular citizenship were led by Muslim community organizations and students and supported by secular Indians.
    — Yamini Aiyar, Time, 29 July 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
  • These anti-fascist singalongs slot into a more playful and irreverent tradition, one more in line with the snotty pop-punk and ska bands who railed against GOP war-mongering in the early 2000s.
    — Zach Schonfeld, Pitchfork, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The novel was adapted for a 1979 film but is now getting new life on Netflix with a cast of young talent and an irreverent bend to the writing.
    — Madeleine Janz, PEOPLE, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of irreverent
Adjective
  • There’s more than a tinge of folk horror to this lingering mystery, which brings to mind the 1973 genre landmark The Wicker Man, in which a puritanical police officer travels to a remote island community that’s reverted to old pagan ways.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 15 June 2026
  • Glenn Turner, the former owner of a pagan and metaphysical shop, is running as a member of the Green Party.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2026
Definition of pagan

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Cite this Entry

“Sacrilegious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sacrilegious. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of sacrilegious for Spanish Speakers

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