to deconsecrate
1
9.9
- verb
- /ˌdiːˈkɒnsɪkreɪt/
- Formal
:
desconsagrar
- Attached to the ground floor of the house is a small chapel, and although it has been deconsecrated, Olympia's family still cannot bring themselves to place their own secular belongings within its wooden walls.
- a deconsecrated church
Examples
-
I understand that you failed to deconsecrate the church before it became this home of mine.
Fiction book (1991) -
Gentlemen, this institution is now deconsecrated.
-
The New York Continental Hotel has been deconsecrated.
-
She said the church was never deconsecrated before it was sold.
Fiction book (1991) -
One of his friends from Oxford was always threatening to come up and excavate the place to see what was under it, but of course he couldn't get clearance from the Church authorities, even though the place has been deconsecrated for years.
Fiction book (1992) -
The council officially deconsecrated the church during a formal ceremony last week.
-
After the monastery was deconsecrated, it was converted into a community center.
-
In an effort to repurpose the building, they decided to deconsecrate the old chapel.
Synonyms
4
7.6
To remove religious control from places like schools or hospitals
1
9.9
Remove religious use from a place or object so people can use it for ordinary things
To make a place or thing no longer holy
To stop something being treated as sacred so it can be used for normal purposes
Antonyms
How Secular
- Formal
1
9.9
- Formal
1
9.9
4
7.6
- Formal
1
8.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
deconsecrate = consecrate (transparent) = de + consecrate
Given knowledge of 'consecrate', the prefix 'de-' clearly signals reversal or removal of that sacred status.
Etymology
The word deconsecrate comes from two parts: de-, meaning 'remove', and consecrate, meaning 'make sacred', which is related to the familiar word sacred. So to deconsecrate something is to take away its 'sacred' or religious status, often in a ceremony.