DESECRATE


Meaning of DESECRATE in English

des ‧ e ‧ crate /ˈdesɪkreɪt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]

[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Origin: de- + consecrate ]

to spoil or damage something holy or respected

—desecration /ˌdesɪˈkreɪʃ ə n/ noun [uncountable]

• • •

THESAURUS

▪ damage to cause physical harm to something or someone, or have a bad effect on them:

Several buildings were damaged by the earthquake.

|

The other car wasn’t damaged.

|

The scandal could damage his career.

▪ harm to have a bad effect on something:

They use chemicals that will harm the environment.

|

The oil crisis could harm the economy.

▪ spoil to have a bad effect on something and make it less successful, enjoyable, useful etc:

We didn’t let the rain spoil our holiday.

|

Local people say the new buildings will spoil the view.

▪ vandalize to deliberately damage buildings, vehicles, or public property:

All the public telephones in the area had been vandalized.

▪ sabotage /ˈsæbətɑːʒ/ to secretly damage machines or equipment so that they cannot be used, especially in order to harm an enemy:

There is evidence that the airplane was sabotaged.

▪ tamper with something to deliberately and illegally damage or change a part of something in order to prevent it from working properly:

The car’s brakes had been tampered with.

▪ desecrate to damage a church or other holy place:

The church had been desecrated by vandals.

▪ deface /dɪˈfeɪs/ to deliberately spoil the appearance of something by writing on it, spraying paint on it etc:

Someone had defaced the statue and painted it bright orange.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.