profane
Violating the sacred
Profane describes what lies outside the sacred—the secular, worldly, or irreverent.
Profane language is crude or blasphemous: His profane outburst shocked the congregation.
To profane something sacred is to treat it with irreverence or contempt: vandals profaned the cemetery.
The word carries judgment—what's profane violates what should be respected.
Experienced in practical affairs
- mundaneCommonplace, lacking excitement
- temporalRelating to chronology
- nonreligiousNot involving worship
- layPlace down flat
laic · civil · earthly · material · corporeal · terrestrial · nonspiritual · humanistic
Grossly irreverent toward sanctity
- impiousLacking religious respect
- godlessLacking belief in deities
- irreverentDisrespectful toward authority
- hereticalContrary to accepted doctrine
unholy · ungodly · blasphemy · desecration · impiety · apostasy · iconoclasm · heathen
Invoked harm through words
- expletiveProfane emotional utterance
- obscenityIndecent word or act
- swearwordTaboo spoken obscenity
- cussSpeak profanely
oath · imprecation · invective · foul-mouthed · four-letter · cursing · blaspheme · damn
worldly
Experienced in practical affairs
- mundaneCommonplace, lacking excitement
- temporalRelating to chronology
- nonreligiousNot involving worship
lay · laic · civil · earthly · material · corporeal · terrestrial · nonspiritual · humanistic · civic
sacrilegious
Grossly irreverent toward sanctity
- impiousLacking religious respect
- godlessLacking belief in deities
- irreverentDisrespectful toward authority
heretical · unholy · ungodly · blasphemy · desecration · impiety · apostasy · iconoclasm · heathen · infidel
curse
Invoked harm through words
cuss · oath · imprecation · invective · foul-mouthed · four-letter · cursing · blaspheme · damn · hell
obscene
Grossly offensive to decency
foul · indecent · filthy · raunchy · smutty · bawdy · ribald · offensive · blue · dirty
violate
Break a rule deliberately
contaminate · debase · corrupt · degrade · dishonor · sully · taint · vandalize · transgress · abuse
- culturemusic taste, beliefs, food preferences, custom, festivals
- religionChristianity, Islam, beliefs, Judaism, Hinduism
- moral judgmentsgood, evil, wicked, virtuous, moral
- anthropologyanthropology, fieldwork, ethnography, social anthropology, cultural anthropology
- literary themesheroism, hero's journey, ennui, social realism, morals
- secularsecular, worldly, temporal, mundane, lay
- profane languageVulgar or obscene speech
- profanity filterSystem blocking offensive speech
- profane humorComedy featuring coarse language
profanity, profanation, profaned, profaning, profanes, profanities, profaneness, profanely