Meaning & use
deconsecrate
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Meanings
verbtransitivereligion
To formally take away the sacred status of a church or other holy place so it can be used for ordinary purposes.
Grammar: Takes an object: deconsecrate a chapel.
Patterns
- deconsecrate something
- deconsecrate something for something
The diocese will deconsecrate the old chapel before selling it.
They had to deconsecrate the church before it could become apartments.
The bishop traveled to deconsecrate the building in a short ceremony.
verbtransitivereligionformal
To remove a sacred object or ground from religious use, as in a cemetery or altar.
Grammar: Often passive: the land was deconsecrated.
Patterns
- be deconsecrated
The burial ground was deconsecrated before the road was built.
The altar was deconsecrated and moved to a museum.
Once deconsecrated, the cemetery could be sold.
Word forms
| third person singular | deconsecrates |
|---|---|
| past tense | deconsecrated |
| past participle | deconsecrated |
| -ing form | deconsecrating |
Common combinations
- deconsecrate a church
- The parish voted to deconsecrate a church that no longer had a congregation.
- formally deconsecrated
- The cathedral was formally deconsecrated in a ceremony.
- deconsecrated chapel
- The deconsecrated chapel now houses a bookshop.
- deconsecrated building
- Several deconsecrated buildings are now concert halls.
Synonyms and how they differ
- desecrate
- Desecrate means to damage or treat a holy place with disrespect, while deconsecrate is a proper, formal release from sacred use.
- secularize
- Secularize means to turn something from religious to non-religious control more generally.
- decommission
- Decommission means taking something out of service, with no sacred sense.
Opposites
Word family
- deconsecration noun
- the formal removal of sacred status
- consecrate verb
- to make something holy
- consecration noun
- a ceremony making something holy
- deconsecrated adjective
- no longer holy in status
Commonly confused: deconsecrate or desecrate?
deconsecrate vs desecrate
Desecrate is an act of disrespect toward a holy place; deconsecrate is an official, respectful removal of its holy status.
Practice
Before the church could be converted into a theater, the diocese had to ___ it.
Choose one answer.
Deconsecrate is the formal release from sacred use. Desecrate means to violate, so it is a tempting but wrong option.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “deconsecrate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.