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 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 The Next Generation was sacrilegious to most Trekkies. — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 28 Mar. 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
  • Many of their performances are blasphemous, and their work only displays hate and mockery of Catholics and the Christian faith.
    — Jon Root OutKick, FOXNews.com, 6 June 2026
  • This way of approaching the story would help make its portrait of Jesus all the more human, and, to some, all the more blasphemous.
    — Isaac Butler, New Yorker, 30 May 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
  • China’s multi-year slowdown, combined with the steady, secular shift toward alternative energy sources, continues to dull long-term demand and has fundamentally altered global consumption projections.
    — Michael Khouw, CNBC, 13 July 2026
  • The risk with any attempt to explain religion to a secular audience is playing into the misapprehension that American Christianity is monolithic.
    — Meghan O’Gieblyn, The New York Review of Books, 11 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
  • But the pair later bonded over golf and what Graham described as a mutual and irreverent sense of humor.
    — Will Weissert, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2026
  • Marie Antoinette was bold, beautiful, irreverent and hugely influential, and to revisit it now through Eleanor Coppola’s eyes, as both a filmmaker and a mother, is incredibly moving.
    — Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 8 July 2026
Definition of irreverent
Adjective
  • Solstices are often associated with pagan religions and draw revelers of different faiths.
    — Julia Gomez, USA Today, 20 June 2026
  • 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
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 18 Jul. 2026.

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