Word.ws English Dictionary

consecrate

Syllables: con·se·crate/ˈkɒnsəkɹeɪt/US/ˈkɑnsəkɹeɪt/

consecrate verb: to declare something holy, or make it holy by some procedure.

consecrate: to declare something holy, or make it holy by some procedure
Image: David Stowell, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

consecrate (third-person singular simple present consecrates, present participle consecrating, simple past and past participle consecrated)

  1. (transitive) To declare something holy, or make it holy by some procedure.
    • But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.1863 November 19, Abraham Lincoln, Dedicatory Remarks (Gettysburg Address)^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address_(Bliss_copy)), near Soldiers' National Cemetery, →LCCN, Bliss copy, page 2
    Synonyms:
    behallow, hallow
  2. (specifically, transitive) To ordain as a bishop.
  3. (transitive) To commit (oneself or one's time) solemnly to some aim or task.

Adjective

UK/ˈkɒnsəkɹət/US/ˈkɑnsəkɹət/

consecrate (comparative more consecrate, superlative most consecrate)

  1. (archaic, obsolete) Consecrated.
    • Led to the city consecrate to Mars.1791, William Cowper, Iliad, IV. 484
  2. (rare) Consecrated, devoted, dedicated, sacred.
    • And that this body conſecrate to thee,
      By Ruffian Luſt ſhould be contaminate!c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • They were assembled in that consecrate place.1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...

consecrate meaning in Bengali, Malayalam, Sanskrit and Arabic

consecrate in Bengali

পবিত্র করা, উৎসর্গ করা

consecrate in Malayalam

declare holy, or make holy by some procedure
പവിത്രീകരിക്കുക pavitrīkarikkuka

consecrate in Sanskrit

to consecrate or dedicate oneself
दीक्ष् dīkṣ, दीक्षते dīkṣate
to consecrate; to hallow
यज् yaj

consecrate in Arabic

declare holy, or make holy by some procedure
قَدَّسَ qaddasa
More languagesFewer languages
consecrate in Indonesian
menahbiskan

Examples of consecrate in a sentence

  • He was therefore legitimately consecrated bishop of Jining, in Inner Mongolia, at a ceremony Monday.
  • Consecrated effort to machinize humanity, to do its directing and thinking, is as old as time itself.
  • The luna, which is a piece of glass in the shape of a moon, contains the Blessed Sacrament, previously consecrated.

All 15 example sentences with consecrate

Synonyms of consecrate

2 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

6 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of consecrate

Forms of consecrate

Verb
third-person singular presentconsecrates
present participleconsecrating
past participleconsecrated
pastconsecrated
Adjective
comparativemore consecrate
superlativemost consecrate

Past tense of consecrate: consecrated

Origin of consecrate

First attested in the late 14ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English consecraten (“to dedicate, consecrate (an altar, church); to ordain (a bishop), anoint (a king, a pope); to devote one to religious life”), from consecrat(e) (“consecrated”, used as the past participle of consecraten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin cōnsecrātus, perfect passive participle of cōnsecrāre, see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

First attested in the late 14ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English consecrat(e) (“consecrated”), used as the past participle of consecraten (“to dedicate, consecrate (an altar, church); to ordain (a bishop), anoint (a king, a pope); to devote one to religious life”); see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more. Regular participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Words formed from consecrate

Questions about consecrate

What does consecrate mean?
Consecrate means to declare something holy, or make it holy by some procedure.
What is consecrate in Bengali?
Consecrate in Bengali is পবিত্র করা, উৎসর্গ করা. See Consecrate meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is consecrate?
Consecrate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce consecrate?
Consecrate is pronounced /ˈkɒnsəkɹeɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of consecrate?
The past tense of consecrate is consecrated.

Words near consecrate in the dictionary

  1. conscriptions
  2. conscriptive
  3. conscripts
  4. conscutum
  5. consecratable
  6. consecrate
  7. consecrated
  8. consecrated virgin
  9. consecrated virgins
  10. consecratedness
  11. consecratee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: consecrate (page history and authors); consecrate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); दीक्षते (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-consecrate.wav.

Cite this entry: “consecrate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/consecrate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.