profane
Appearance
See also: profané
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle French prophane, from Latin profānus (“not religious, unclean”), from pro- (“before”) + fānum (“temple”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]profane (comparative profaner or more profane, superlative profanest or most profane)
- Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
- 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):
- Nothing is profane that serveth to the use of holy things.
- Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.
- profane authors
- 1781, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:
- A sonnet in praise of Rome was accepted as the effusion of genius and gratitude; and after the whole procession had visited the Vatican, the profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.
- 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 102:
- The sacred is the emotional force which connects the part to the whole; the profane or the secular is that which has been broken off from, or has fallen off, its emotional bond to the universe.
- Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or scorn; blasphemous, impious.
- Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain
- a profane person, word, oath, or tongue
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 1:9:
- the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane
- 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 102:
- When asked to explain why he became a landlord, he told the Archbishop of York it was so he could close the pub on Sundays, and suppress the profane language and singing that came through the bar windows.
Synonyms
[edit]- (obscene): vulgar, inappropriate, obscene, debased, uncouth, offensive, ignoble, mean, lewd, wicked
- (not sacred): secular, unsanctified, unhallowed, unholy, irreligious, temporal, worldly, ungodly, impious, godless
- (taking God's name in vain): irreverent
Antonyms
[edit](antonym(s) of “not sacred or holy”): faithful, holy, orthodox, religious, sacred, sacrosanct, spiritual
Translations
[edit]unclean; impure; polluted; unholy
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Not sacred or holy
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Treating sacred matters with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or undue familiarity
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taking the name of God in vain
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
[edit]profane (plural profanes)
- A person or thing that is profane.
- 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 244:
- The nuns were employed in religious duties established in honour of St Clare, and to which no profane was ever admitted.
- (Freemasonry) A person not a Mason.
Verb
[edit]profane (third-person singular simple present profanes, present participle profaning, simple past and past participle profaned)
- (transitive) To violate (something sacred); to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate
- One should not profane the name of God.
- to profane the Scriptures
- 1600, [Michael Drayton, Richard Hathwaye, Anthony Munday, Robert Wilson], The First Part of the True and Honorable Historie, of the Life of Sir John Old-castle, the Good Lord Cobham. […][1], London: […] [V[alentine] S[immes]] for Thomas Pauier, […], →OCLC:
- VVhen the vulgar ſort / Sit on their Ale-bench, vvith their cups and kannes, / Matters of ſtate be not their common talke, / Nor pure religion by their lips prophande.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXXIV, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
- With one mind, their intent eyes all fastened upon the old man’s knife, as he carved the chief dish before him. I do not suppose that for the world they would have profaned that moment with the slightest observation, even upon so neutral a topic as the weather.
- (transitive) To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to debase; to abuse; to defile.
Synonyms
[edit]- (violate something sacred): defile, unhallow; see also Thesaurus:desecrate
- (put to a wrong or unworthy use): abase, adulterate, degrade, demean, misapply, misuse, pervert
Antonyms
[edit]- (antonym(s) of “violate something sacred”): consecrate, sanctify; see also Thesaurus:consecrate
Translations
[edit]To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt
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Related terms
[edit]French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]profane (plural profanes)
Related terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “profane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Galician
[edit]Verb
[edit]profane
- inflection of profanar:
Italian
[edit]Adjective
[edit]profane f pl
Noun
[edit]profane f
Latin
[edit]Adjective
[edit]profāne
References
[edit]- “profane”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- profane in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Portuguese
[edit]Verb
[edit]profane
- inflection of profanar:
Spanish
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]profane
- inflection of profanar:
Swedish
[edit]Adjective
[edit]profane
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *pro-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰeh₁-
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪn
- Rhymes:English/eɪn/2 syllables
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Freemasonry
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *per-
- French terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰeh₁-
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- Galician non-lemma forms
- Galician verb forms
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian adjective forms
- Italian noun forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin adjective forms
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/ane
- Rhymes:Spanish/ane/3 syllables
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms
- Swedish non-lemma forms
- Swedish adjective forms