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The act of violating sacred things, or of treating them with contempt or irreverence; irreverent or too familiar treatment or use of what is sacred; desecration; as, the profanation of the Sabbath; the profanation of a sanctuary; the profanation of the name of God.

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.

One who treats sacred things with irreverence, or defiles what is holy; one who uses profane language. Hooker.

The quality or state of being profane; profaneness; irreverence; esp., the use of profane language; blasphemy.

deep humility; lowly; submissive; as, a profound bow. What humble gestures! What profound reverence! Dupp

An ancestor in the direct line; a forefather. And reverence thee their great progenitor. Milton.

Bending forward; inclined; not erect. Towards him they bend With awful reverence prone. Milton.

Lying in a humble, lowly, or suppliant posture. Prostrate fall Before him reverent, and there confess Humbly our faults. Milton.

; primarily, the act of falling on the face, but usually applied to kneeling or bowing in reverence and worship. A greater prostration of reason than of body. Shak.

of an instructor or tutor. Too far in years to be a pupil now. Shak. Tutors should behave reverently before their pupils. L'Estrange.

s things indifferent, being esteemed useful or pious, became customary, and then came for reverence into a putative and usurped authority. Jer. Taylor.

Reverence; honor. [Obs.] In redoutyng of Mars and of his glory. Chaucer.

tion of value, estimable qualities, or anything that excites admiration; respect; esteem; reverence; affection; as, to have a high regard for a person; -- often in the plural. He has rendered himself worthy of their most favorable regards. A. Smith. Save the long-sought regards of woman, nothing is sweeter than those m…

gnated or exalted by a divine sanction; possessing the highest title to obedience, honor, reverence, or veneration; entitled to extreme reverence; venerable. Such neighbor nearness to our sacred [royal] blood Should nothing privilege him. Shak. Poet and saint to thee alone were given, The two most sacred names of earth…

The act of saluting, or paying respect or reverence, by the customary words or actions; the act of greeting, or expressing good will or courtesy; also, that which is uttered or done in saluting or greeting. In all public meetings or private addresses, use those forms of salutation, reverence, and decency usual amongst…

To impart or impute sacredness, venerableness, inviolability, title to reverence and respect, or the like, to; to secure from violation; to give sanction to. The holy man, amazed at what he saw, Made haste to sanctify the bliss by law. Dryden. Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line. Pope.

With the exception of; except; excepting; also, without disrespect to. "Saving your reverence." Shak. "Saving your presence." Burns. None of us put off clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing. Neh. iv. 23. And in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Rev. ii. 17…

To enshrine; to place reverently, as in a shrine. "Shrined in his sanctuary." Milton.

A rite or ceremony performed with religious reverence; religious or ritual ceremony; as, the solemnity of a funeral, a sacrament. Great was the cause; our old solemnities From no blind zeal or fond tradition rise, But saved from death, our Argives yearly pay These grateful honors to the god of day. Pope.…

To make grave, serious, and reverential. Wordsworth was solemnizzed and elevated by this his first look on Yarrow. J. C. Shairp. Every Israelite . . . arose, solemnized his face, looked towards Jerusalem . . . and prayed. L. Wallace.