profanation
/pɹɒfəˈneɪʃ(ə)n/
profanation means the act of profaning; desecration, blasphemous behaviour, defilement. It carries an Arena rating of 1610, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, profanation ranks #754 of 13,218 for Most Sublime Words, #836 of 13,218 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,123 of 13,218 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,935 of 13,218 for Most Vivid Words.
profanation is pronounced /pɹɒfəˈneɪʃ(ə)n/.
Why “profanation” is a great word
Profanation is the act of treating something sacred with irreverence or contempt. From Middle French prophanation, and its source, Late Latin profanatio, from the participle stem of Latin profānō ('to desecrate, treat as not sacred'), it first entered English in the somber light of the 1550s. Unlike 'sacrilege,' a specific violation of religious doctrine, or 'desecration,' the physical defilement of a site, profanation is the broader, more insidious contempt that drains reverence from the holy. It is the vulgar graffiti on a cathedral wall, the sacred chant repurposed for a tavern song, the cynical smirk in a place of solemn prayer—each a small, deliberate theft of awe, leaving only the chill of the commonplace.
Etymology
From Middle French prophanation, profanation, and its source, Late Latin profanatio, from the participle stem of Latin profānō.
noun
- The act of profaning; desecration, blasphemous behaviour, defilement.“those which mocke and condemne it, intend neverthelesse to wrong this noble vertue; but onely to condemne the abuse and profanation of so sacred a title[…].”
Words closest in meaning
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