sacrilege

2 definitions • 3 examples

(an act of) treating something holy or important without respect:

[ + to infinitive ] Muslims consider it sacrilege to wear shoes inside a mosque.

It would be a sacrilege to put a neon sign on that beautiful old building.

the failure to treat something holy with the respect it should have, or an example of this:

[ U ] Many thought it was sacrilege to move the bones to another place.