Meanings
comparative more unhallowed · superlative most unhallowed
- Not hallowed or blessed; unholy.
The murderer was buried in unhallowed ground.
4 more examples
Gra[tiano]. O be thou damn’d, inexecrable dog, / And for thy life let iuſtice be accuſde; / Thou almoſt mak’ſt me wauer in my faith, / To hold opinion with Pythagoras, / That ſoules of Animals infuſe themſelues / Into the trunks of men: Thy curriſh ſpirit / Gouern’d a Wolfe, who, hang’d for humane ſlaughter, / Euen from the gallowes did his fell ſoule fleete, / And whilſt thou layeſt in thy vnhallowed dam, / Infuſde it ſelfe in thee: for thy deſires / Are woluiſh, bloody, ſtaru’d and rauenous.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]It seemed a desecration and an unhallowed thing to touch that sleeping image of the live man by my side.
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Dead and Living Meet”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, pages 238–239Would the lass but consent to go abroad in the unhallowed place at this awful season and hour of the night, she was as firmly handfasted to the Devil as if she had signed a bond with her own blood; […]
1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the TideIn the service of Venus ghastly and unhallowed crimes have been committed, men have braved tempestuous dangers, have renounced magnificence, power, and possessions, confirming the almost thaumaturgic virtue of ‘All for love.’
1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page iSynonyms: impure, mishallowed, profane, common, impious, impure, mishallowed, profane
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot hallowed or blessed; unholy.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivenot hallowed or consecrated
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishunhalowyd
- Englishunhallowed
From Middle English unhalowyd; equivalent to un- + hallowed.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek βέβηλος
- βέβηλος (bébēlos)not hallowed or blessed
Russian без благославления
- без благославленияnot hallowed or blessed
Swedish ovigd
- ovigdnot hallowed or blessed
Cite this entry
unhallowed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unhallowed
“unhallowed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unhallowed. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unhallowed,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unhallowed.
Source: unhallowed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.