sacrilege

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the violation, misuse, or profanation of something regarded as sacred

   Removing the relic from the shrine was condemned as sacrilege.

2. 2
   noun

   an act regarded as a shocking violation of something deeply valued

   To devoted fans, repainting the historic theater felt like sacrilege.

From Middle English and Old French sacrilege, from Latin sacrilegium. The Latin word was built from sacer, "sacred," and the family of legere, "to gather or steal," and originally referred especially to stealing sacred objects. By the late Middle Ages it had broadened to profaning anything holy.

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