as in blasphemous
not showing proper reverence for the holy or sacred
a sacrilegious, obscene joke—and told in church at that!
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Recent Examples of sacrilegious
But how can considering sincere questions of faith and meaning within a place of worship be sacrilegious or desperate?
—
Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
Think that's wild and somehow sacrilegious?
—Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean, 27 Sep. 2025
Any extra trimmings would land somewhere between glib and sacrilegious.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 3 Sep. 2025
Drinking a Bloody Mary at night just feels wrong and confusing, sacrilegious even, which is hilarious because everything else goes.
—Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sacrilegious
Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
Think that's wild and somehow sacrilegious?
—Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean, 27 Sep. 2025
Any extra trimmings would land somewhere between glib and sacrilegious.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 3 Sep. 2025
Drinking a Bloody Mary at night just feels wrong and confusing, sacrilegious even, which is hilarious because everything else goes.
—Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sacrilegious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sacrilegious
Adjective
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The Satanic Verses stirred controversy after some considered its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammed blasphemous.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
19 Jan. 2026
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That’s because The Carpenter’s Son is not only gruesomely horror-leaning, but it’s based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which some deem heretical or even blasphemous.—
Barry Levitt,
Time,
14 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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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
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The only true dictionary is the lost one, the dictionary of the language that perished when the impious tower was built: the original language, God’s language.—
Mariana Dimópulos,
Harpers Magazine,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Otherwise disparate segments of Iranian society, such as the conservative Bazaari merchants hitherto largely loyal to the clerics and more liberal and secular Iranian youth, shared this overarching goal.—
Paul Iddon,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
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Its first secular use, as a term for major literary texts, dates to the eighteenth century, and that sense became gradually more pervasive as authority was divorced from scripture.—
Colton Valentine,
New Yorker,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The death threats began soon after the publication in 1988 of his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, when the Ayatollah Khomeini, supreme leader of Iran, issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death over what some viewed as the book’s irreverent depiction of Muhammad.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Jan. 2026
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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude.—
Chas Newkey-Burden,
TheWeek,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Over the course of that months-long reporting, a picture has emerged of the radical characters involved with the property, including a notorious neo-Nazi family and a pagan mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.—
Rob Picheta,
CNN Money,
15 Dec. 2025
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The History of Hanukkah More than 2,000 years ago, Antiochus, a cruel ruler of the Greek Kingdom, imposed pagan beliefs on the Jewish people.—
Holly Rizzuto Palker,
Parents,
14 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sacrilegious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sacrilegious. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
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