profane

English

Alternative forms

• prophane (obsolete, hypercorrect)

Etymology

From Middle French prophane, from Latin profānus (“not religious, unclean”), from pro- (“before”) + fānum (“temple”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈfeɪn/
• Rhymes: -eɪn

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adjective

profane (comparative profaner or more profane, superlative profanest or most profane)

1. Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
   • 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World , London: William Stansby for Walter Burre, , →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):

     Nothing is profane that serveth to the use of holy things.

2. Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.

   profane authors

   • 1781, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: W Strahan; and T Cadell, , →OCLC:

     A sonnet in praise of Rome was accepted as the effusion of genius and gratitude; and after the whole procession had visited the Vatican, the profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 102:

     The sacred is the emotional force which connects the part to the whole; the profane or the secular is that which has been broken off from, or has fallen off, its emotional bond to the universe.

3. Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or scorn; blasphemous, impious.
4. Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain

   a profane person, word, oath, or tongue

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 1 Timothy 1:9:

     the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane

Synonyms

• (obscene): vulgar, inappropriate, obscene, debased, uncouth, offensive, ignoble, mean, lewd, wicked
• (not sacred): secular, unsanctified, unhallowed, unholy, irreligious, temporal, worldly, ungodly, impious, godless
• (taking God's name in vain): irreverent

Antonyms

(antonym(s) of "not sacred or holy"): faithful, holy, orthodox, religious, sacred, sacrosanct, spiritual

Translations

Noun

profane (plural profanes)

1. A person or thing that is profane.
   • 1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 244:

     The nuns were employed in religious duties established in honour of St Clare, and to which no profane was ever admitted.

2. (Freemasonry) A person not a Mason.

Verb

profane (third-person singular simple present profanes, present participle profaning, simple past and past participle profaned)

1. (transitive) To violate (something sacred); to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate

   One should not profane the name of God.

   to profane the Scriptures

   • 1600, [Michael Drayton, Richard Hathwaye, Anthony Munday, Robert Wilson], The First Part of the True and Honorable Historie, of the Life of Sir John Old-castle, the Good Lord Cobham. ‎, London: [V S] for Thomas Pauier, , →OCLC:

     VVhen the vulgar ſort / Sit on their Ale-bench, vvith their cups and kannes, / Matters of ſtate be not their common talke, / Nor pure religion by their lips prophande.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXXIV, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     With one mind, their intent eyes all fastened upon the old man’s knife, as he carved the chief dish before him. I do not suppose that for the world they would have profaned that moment with the slightest observation, even upon so neutral a topic as the weather.

2. (transitive) To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to debase; to abuse; to defile.

Synonyms

• (violate something sacred): defile, unhallow; see also Thesaurus:desecrate
• (put to a wrong or unworthy use): abase, adulterate, degrade, demean, misapply, misuse, pervert

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "violate something sacred"): consecrate, sanctify; see also Thesaurus:consecrate

Translations

Related terms

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin profānus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.fan/

Adjective

profane (plural profanes)

1. secular; lay

   Synonyms: laïque, séculier

   Antonym: sacré

2. profane

Related terms

Further reading

• “profane”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Galician

Verb

profane

1. inflection of profanar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

Adjective

profane f pl

1. feminine plural of profano

Noun

profane f

1. plural of profana

Latin

Adjective

profāne

1. vocative masculine singular of profānus

References

• “profane”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• profane in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Verb

profane

1. inflection of profanar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾoˈfane/
• Rhymes: -ane
• Syllabification: pro‧fa‧ne

Verb

profane

1. inflection of profanar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Swedish

Adjective

profane

1. definite natural masculine singular of profan