(v. t.) To divest of a sacred character or office; to divert from a sacred purpose; to violate the sanctity of; to profane; to put to an unworthy use; -- the opposite of consecrate.
Example Sentences:
(1) Indonesia’s largest Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama, in February described gay lifestyles as perverted and a desecration of human dignity.
(2) And Islamist extremists desecrated shrines built by Sufi Muslims and the graves of British soldiers.
(3) "We will do everything that we can to remove funding for the Brooklyn museum until the director comes to his senses and realises that if you are a government-subsidised enterprise, then you can't do things that desecrate the most personal and deeply held views of people in society.
(4) On Wednesday, Sboui appeared before an investigating judge in Kairouan who is considering the charges; they include public indecency, desecrating a cemetery and belonging to a band of malefactors seeking to damage public property.
(5) But what can be done to halt this desecration is less obvious.
(6) There were shouts of "shame" from the Tory benches when John McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, said that Britain should apologise because it had been willing to provide military support to "desecrate" the holiest site in the Sikh faith.
(7) Unconscious aggression is unleashed against the Jews, who thus become scapegoats against whom three constantly recurring accusations are levelled: the killing of Christ; the desecration of the Host; and the ritual murder of children.
(8) In a letter to a corporation official, Cottam wrote: "Desecration: graffiti have been scratched and painted on to the great west doors of the cathedral, the chapter house door and most notably a sacrilegious message painted on to the restored pillars of the west portico.
(9) But to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see in the images of Jesus Christ that are desecrated, or churches that are destroyed, or the Holocaust that is denied.
(10) And cemeteries are desecrated so not even the dead can escape.
(11) He once created a metallic artwork decorated with the phrase "I have no desire whatsoever to desecrate the grave of seminal Manchester pop group The Stone Roses" and displayed it on his website.
(12) As he was conveniently dead, that box was then moved, for fear of desecration.
(13) At least 400 people were killed in the army's infamous Operation Blue Star, which enraged Sikhs who accused the troops of desecrating the shrine.
(14) His claims of "desecration" and graffiti on the cathedral, along with details of "human defecation", drug use and general disruption caused by the camp have infuriated protesters, who have interpreted his comments as support for the corporation's eviction attempt.
(15) Isis was “intent upon only desecration and destruction” and was murdering innocent people and oppressing and raping women and girls across northern Iraq, Shorten said.
(16) These parameters call for “freedom of access to the holy sites consistent with the established status quo”, without recognizing that for 50 years Israeli governments have shredded that status quo, desecrating Muslim cemeteries like Mamilla and Bab al-Rahmeh, demolishing ancient Ummayad buildings discovered south of the Haram, and much else, in the race to dig down to the only strata that matter to nationalist Israeli archaeologists.
(17) Certainly these are not words of contrition and the Sun on Sunday so swiftly returning to the fecund bone-yard of gossip, poison and lies indicates that they've learned nothing from the outrage they provoked with their desecration of the dead children of ordinary people.
(18) Two members of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) were reportedly entrusted with the burial in an unknown location - chosen to avoid the risk of the grave becoming a shrine for supporters or, more likely, being desecrated by vengeful opponents.
(19) Two senior US officers were shot dead inside Kabul's heavily fortified interior ministry on Saturday and at least six others died in street protests as another day of violence convulsed Afghanistan following the desecration of copies of the Qur'an by American soldiers.
(20) Gross desecration of Catholic or Protestant religious symbols is no longer a sin in America.
Sanctity
Definition:
(n.) The state or quality of being sacred or holy; holiness; saintliness; moral purity; godliness.
(n.) Sacredness; solemnity; inviolability; religious binding force; as, the sanctity of an oath.
(n.) A saint or holy being.
Example Sentences:
(1) The spokeswoman said the church had submitted its views on the sanctity of marriage as part of the consultation, it had not anticipated that the government would act as it had.
(2) Because of course nothing is more destructive of the sanctity of his own vocation than the suggestion that we simply don't need this kind of conservation – if that's what it really is – at all; that on the contrary, the entire "relaunch" is simply the bastard offspring of an orgiastic union between Mammon and science, consummated on the Stonehenge altar stone and observed by the fee-paying public.
(3) The sanctity of voting in private may be one of the pillars of democracy, but in an age of byzantine disenfranchisement rules and empowering social-media platforms, outlawing a picture of your candidate selection is a missed opportunity and a failure of imagination.
(4) Nurses who made a decision to feed the patient stressed mostly the principle of sanctity of life.
(5) His friend Dingle Foot drafted an editorial that David then sharpened up, inserting phrases that summed up his outlook: 'We had not realised that our government was capable of such folly and crookedness...It is no longer possible to bomb countries because you fear that your trading interests will be harmed...this new feeling for the sanctity of human life is the best element in the modern world.'
(6) This protection is not about politics, it's about the deepest of American values – the sanctity of the family and the security of our country.
(7) In the rush to acknowledge the quality of life, the sanctity of life must not be discarded.
(8) The sanctity of human life is guaranteed in Islam .” The council did not specifically condemn the Paris attacks in its statement.
(9) But for this to be possible, interest payments must always be made on time, and the sanctity of debt contracts must always take precedence over electoral promises regarding pensions, wages, and public spending.
(10) Other concerns are that people may opt for death so as not to become a burden on relatives; there is an erosion of the principle of the sanctity of life and the trust between doctor and patient could be damaged.
(11) Better to blockade and pummel from afar, if the sanctity of human life is not a concern.
(12) In The Plague, the stricken protagonists are searching for some way of being human beyond heroism and sanctity.
(13) And sometimes the guns refuse to acknowledge the sanctity of the PoC.
(14) Putin was asked to comment on rising petrol prices, the sanctity of the country's Victory Day holiday, the potential bankruptcy of a meat factory and the identity of his favourite singer.
(15) The sanctity of his life finds nourishment in the respect with which he is treated.
(16) "We've always said ... that we were for health care reform, but there was a principle that meant more to us than anything, and that was the sanctity of life," he told the press conference.
(17) The Vatican talked of "this insult to the nobility of the hearth", and Ed Sullivan on his TV show said, "You can only trust that youngsters will not be persuaded that the sanctity of marriage has been invalidated by the appalling example of Mrs Taylor-Fisher and married man Burton."
(18) This approach defeats the purpose of fighting for the sanctity of human life in current ethical debates about detention centres, because it appropriates the sanctity of the lives of those who are not here to speak for themselves.
(19) Locals cite legends about the area’s sanctity to local Native American tribes.
(20) They call for a mind-shift on the issue of "aid in dying", arguing that the church's insistence on the sanctity of life in all situations has the effect of sanctioning anguish and pain.