desacralize

D2E1S1A1C3R1A1L1I1Z10E1

verb

To remove the sacredness of.

Opposite
Scrabble 23

Meanings

verbdesacralize (third-person singular simple present desacralizes, present participle desacralizing, simple past and past participle desacralized)

present singular third person desacralizes · participle present desacralizing · participle past desacralized · past desacralized · alternative desacralise

  1. transitivelifestyleTo remove the sacredness of.

    If whiteness bespoke purity and godliness, then poor white trash implied an ungodly, desacralized, polluted whiteness.

    2006, Matt Wray, Not Quite White, page 47
    1 more example

    Still, certain programmatic commitments [of avant-garde art] can be identified: championing the volatile eventness of corporeal performances, […] consciously embracing the desacralizing and subversive, and disrupting conventional norms by placing the strange and unexpected in otherwise banal places.

    2013, Isher-Paul Sahni, “More than Horseplay”, in Studies in Popular Culture, volume 35, page 74

    Synonyms: desanctify, desecrate

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo remove the sacredness of.

Opposite

More synonyms by meaning

verbtransfer from ecclesiastical to civil possession, use, or control

Similar
Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*de
  2. Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
  3. Proto-Italic*dē
  4. Latindē
  5. Latindē-
  6. Englishde-
  7. Englishsacral
  8. Englishsacralize
  9. Englishdesacralize

From de- + sacralize.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish maallistaa
  • maallistaato remove the sacredness of
Cite this entry
APA

desacralize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/desacralize

MLA

“desacralize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/desacralize. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “desacralize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/desacralize.

Source: desacralize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.