sacrilegious

Compare sacrilege, Latin sacrilegus. From Latin sacer + legō (“steal something sacred”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sæk.ɹəˈlɪd͡ʒ.əs/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /sæk.ɹəˈlɪd͡ʒ.əs/, /sæk.ɹəˈlid͡ʒəs/
• Rhymes: -ɪd͡ʒəs, -iːd͡ʒəs

sacrilegious (comparative more sacrilegious, superlative most sacrilegious)

1. Committing sacrilege; acting or speaking very disrespectfully toward what is held to be sacred.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 26:

     At one end of the room was spread a square carpet, and on it stood a table, on which were placed two most sacrilegious-looking wax-tapers: it is to be feared some poor sinner stayed longer in purgatory from the abduction of his offering.

• sacrilege