sacrilege
Definitions
The act of treating something sacred with great disrespect; violation of what is holy.
渎圣；亵渎圣物之举。
(informal) Disrespect toward something widely regarded as too important to mock.
（非正式）对被普遍视为不可亵渎之事的冒犯。
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedFrom Latin sacrilegium = sacr (sacred) + leg (legere, 'to gather, pick up') — literally 'the picking up / stealing of sacred things.' The original sacrilege was robbing a temple; the meaning broadened to any violation of the holy, and informally to mocking anything held precious (calling a remake 'sacrilege').
Root sacr still carries 10 more wordsWhy It Means This
Sacrilege joins two ideas you would not expect together: the sacred (sacr) and picking things up (leg, as in collect, select). The link is theft — a thief who 'gathers up' what belongs to the gods. From temple robbery the word grew into the general sense of profaning the holy.
Common Collocations
- 1.commit sacrilege犯下渎圣之举
- 2.an act of sacrilege亵渎神圣的行为
- 3.utter sacrilege彻头彻尾的亵渎
- 4.sheer sacrilege纯粹是亵渎
Example Sentences
- 1.
Stealing from the temple was condemned as an act of sacrilege.
- 2.
To devoted fans, changing the recipe felt like sacrilege.