profane
/pɹəˈfeɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.96 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
adj
Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.
adj
Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or scorn; blasphemous, impious.
Example Sentences
- "Nothing is profane that serveth to the use of holy things."
- "profane authors"
- "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."
- "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."
- "a profane person, word, oath, or tongue"
- "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"
Etymology
From Middle English prophane, from Middle French profane, prophaine, prophane and its etymon Classical Latin profānus (“not religious, unclean”) (also Late Latin prophānus), from pro- (“instead of”) + fānum (“temple”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɹəˈfeɪn/
- British English: /pɹəˈfeɪn/
Usage
Inflected Forms
profaner (comparative)
more profane (comparative)
profanest (superlative)
most profane (superlative)
prophane (alternative, hypercorrect)
profanes (plural)
profanes (present, singular)
profaning (participle, present)
profaned (participle, past)
profaned (past)