unhallow means to rended un-hallowed, i.e. to profane; to desecrate. It carries an Arena rating of 1583, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, unhallow ranks #796 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,894 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #4,359 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #4,606 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
Why “unhallow” is a great word
UNHALLOW — [Verb] To profane or desecrate something that is sacred or hallowed. From the English prefix un- (expressing reversal or deprivation) + the verb hallow (from Old English hālgian, "to make holy"). First recorded in English use in 1525–35. Unlike "defile," which suggests a broader staining or corruption, or "deconsecrate," which denotes a formal, neutral removal of sacred status, to unhallow is to violate sanctity with a force that feels like a crime. It is the graffiti scrawled across a tombstone, the looted relic tossed into the mud, the sacred grove felled for lumber—a deliberate subtraction of grace that leaves the world a little emptier, a little more ordinary.
Etymology
From un- + hallow.
verb
- To rended un-hallowed, i.e. to profane; to desecrate.e.g.“Nay, the very Ostentation of the Thorn, is a Weakness, and I might have said a Vice too; for the Vanity Unhallows the very Virtue, especially where it is Accompany'd with Detraction.” — 1692, Sir Roger L'Estrange, “Fable CCCCLXVI: A Fig-Tree and a Thorn”, in Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists, page 441:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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