Profane

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Profane \Pro*fane"\, a. [F., fr. L. profanus, properly, before
     the temple, i. e., without the temple, unholy; pro before +
     fanum temple. See 1st {Fane}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Not sacred or holy; not possessing peculiar sanctity;
        unconsecrated; hence, relating to matters other than


        sacred; secular; -- opposed to sacred, religious, or
        inspired; as, a profane place. "Profane authors." --I.
        Disraeli.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.
                                                    --Gibbon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Unclean; impure; polluted; unholy.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things.
                                                    --Sir W.
                                                    Raleigh.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect,
        irreverence, or undue familiarity; irreverent; impious.
        Hence, specifically; Irreverent in language; taking the
        name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a
        profane person, word, oath, or tongue. --1 Tim. i. 9.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Secular; temporal; worldly; unsanctified; unhallowed;
          unholy; irreligious; irreverent; ungodly; wicked;
          godless; impious. See {Impious}.
          [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Profane \Pro*fane"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Profaned}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Profaning}.] [L. profanare: cf. F. profaner. See
     {Profane}, a.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse,
        irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to
        pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the
        Scriptures, or the ordinance of God.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The priests in the temple profane the sabbath.
                                                    --Matt. xii.
                                                    5.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base
        employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              So idly to profane the precious time. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  profane
       adj 1: characterized by profanity or cursing; "foul-mouthed and
              blasphemous"; "blue language"; "profane words" [syn: {blasphemous},
               {blue}]
       2: not sacred or concerned with religion; "sacred and profane
          music"; "children being brought up in an entirely profane
          environment" [ant: {sacred}]
       3: not holy because unconsecrated or impure or defiled [syn: {unconsecrated},
           {unsanctified}]
       4: grossly irreverent toward what is held to be sacred;
          "blasphemous rites of a witches' Sabbath"; "profane
          utterances against the Church"; "it is sacrilegious to
          enter with shoes on" [syn: {blasphemous}, {sacrilegious}]
       v 1: corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality; "debauch
            the young people with wine and women"; "Socrates was
            accused of corrupting young men"; "Do school counselors
            subvert young children?"; "corrupt the morals" [syn: {corrupt},
             {pervert}, {subvert}, {demoralize}, {demoralise}, {debauch},
             {debase}, {vitiate}, {deprave}, {misdirect}]
       2: violate the sacred character of a place or language;
          "desecrate a cemetary"; "violate the sanctity of the
          church"; "profane the name of God" [syn: {desecrate}, {outrage},
           {violate}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  149 Moby Thesaurus words for "profane":
     Fescennine, Philistine, Rabelaisian, abuse, abusive, apostate,
     atheistic, backsliding, bad, bawdy, befoul, blasphemous, blue,
     calumniatory, calumnious, carnal, carnal-minded, coarse,
     comminatory, commit sacrilege, common, contaminate, contemptuous,
     contumelious, convert, corrupt, cursing, damnatory, debase,
     defalcate, defile, defiled, degrade, denunciatory, desecrate,
     dirty, disbelieving, dishonor, disrespectful, divert, dysphemistic,
     earthly, earthy, embezzle, epithetic, ethnic, excommunicative,
     excommunicatory, execratory, fallen, fallen from grace, filthy,
     fleshly, foul, foul-mouthed, fulminatory, gentile, godless,
     heathen, idolatrous, immodest, impious, imprecatory, improper,
     impure, indecent, indecorous, indelicate, infidel, infidelic,
     iniquitous, irreligious, irreverent, lapsed, lay, low,
     maladminister, maledictory, material, materialistic, misapply,
     misappropriate, misemploy, mishandle, mismanage, misuse, mundane,
     nasty, naughty, nonsacred, obscene, off color, pagan, peculate,
     pervert, pilfer, pollute, profanatory, prostitute, raunchy, raw,
     recidivist, recidivistic, recreant, renegade, reprobate, ribald,
     risque, sacrilegious, scatologic, scurrile, scurrilous, secular,
     sinful, smutty, taboo, taint, temporal, terrestrial, the fleshly,
     the mundane, the profane, the secular, the temporal, the unholy,
     the worldly, tref, unbelieving, unblessed, unclean, uncouth,
     undutiful, ungodly, unhallowed, unholy, unmentionable, unprintable,
     unregenerate, unsacred, unsanctified, unspiritual, venomous, vile,
     violate, vitiate, vituperative, vulgar, wicked, worldly
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PROFANE. That which has not been consecrated. By a profane place is 
  understood one which is neither sacred, nor sanctified, nor religious. Dig. 
  11, 7, 2, 4. Vide Things.