sacrilegious
adjective
sac·ri·le·gious
ˌsa-krə-ˈli-jəs 
also
-ˈlē-
: committing or characterized by sacrilege : having or showing a lack of proper respect for a sacred person, place, or object
sacrilegious acts
It is difficult for religiously committed persons to acknowledge that their sacred texts are prone to sacrilegious uses.—
Mary C. Boys
—often used in an exaggerated way in contexts unrelated to religionMary C. BoysIt would be sacrilegious to cut down such beautiful trees.
Chilling your red wines may seem sacrilegious to some, and downright odd to others.—Tess Rose Lampert
Tess Rose Lampert
sacrilegiously
adverb
In the center of the rich red carpet was a black and gold Louis Quinze table, a lovely antique, now sacrilegiously desecrated with marks of glasses and the scars of cigar-stumps.
—Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
sacrilegiousness
noun
… these examples of … insensitivity to (if not sacrilegiousness or profanation of) the deeply held beliefs of some 200 million-plus Americans.
—Quin Hilyer
Quin Hilyer
Examples of sacrilegious in a Sentence
a sacrilegious, obscene joke—and told in church at that!
Recent Examples on the Web
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
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.
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
Cite this Entry
“Sacrilegious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sacrilegious. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share