Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Desecrate

Des′e·crate (·krāt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Desecrated; p. pr. & vb. n. Desecrating.] [L. desecratus, p. p. of desecrare (also desacrare) to consecrate, dedicate; but taken in the sense if to divest of a sacred character; de- + sacrare to consecrate, fr. sacer sacred. See Sacred.] To divest of a sacred character or office; to divert from a sacred purpose; to violate the sanctity of; to profane; to put to an unworthy use; — the opposite of consecrate.

The [Russian] clergy can not suffer corporal punishment without being previously desecrated. W. Tooke.

The founders of monasteries imprecated evil on those who should desecrate their donations. Salmon.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.