profane
/pɹəˈfeɪn/US/pɹəˈfeɪn/
profane adjective: unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
Adjective
profane (comparative profaner or more profane, superlative profanest or most profane)
- Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
- Nothing is profane that serveth to the use of holy things.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)
- Synonyms:
- defiled, mishallowed, unhallowed, common, impious, impure, unholy
- Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.
- 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.1781, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- secular, unsanctified, unhallowed, unholy, irreligious, temporal, worldly, ungodly, impious, godless
- Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or scorn; blasphemous, impious.
- Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain.
- 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 profane1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 1:9
- Synonyms:
- irreverent
Noun
profane (plural profanes)
- A person or thing that is profane.
- The nuns were employed in religious duties established in honour of St Clare, and to which no profane was ever admitted.1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 244
- A person not a Mason.
Verb
profane (third-person singular simple present profanes, present participle profaning, simple past and past participle profaned)
profane meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
profane in Hindi
- profane
- मुर्दार murdār
profane in Tamil
- அருவெறுக்கத்தக்க வகையில் செயலாற்றுதல்
profane in Urdu
- profane
- مردار murdār
profane in Bengali
- অপবিত্র, ধর্মীয়ভাবে অশুদ্ধ, অশুচি, পবিত্র স্থান, বস্তুর অবমাননাকারী, পবিত্র
More languagesFewer languages
- profane in Malayalam
- അശ്ലീലം aślīlaṁ
- profane in Kannada
- ಕೀಳುಗಳೆ, ಎಂಜಲಿಸು, ಹೊಲೆಗೆಡಿಸು
Examples of profane in a sentence
- 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.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London...
- 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.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXXIV, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers...
Synonyms of profane
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of profane
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | profaner |
| comparative | more profane |
| superlative | profanest |
| superlative | most profane |
| alternative hypercorrect (obsolete) | prophane |
| Noun | |
| plural | profanes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | profanes |
| present participle | profaning |
| past participle | profaned |
| past | profaned |
Origin of profane
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”).
From Middle English prophanen, from Middle French profaner, prophaner and its etymon Classical Latin profānō (also Late Latin prophāno), from profānus + -ō (suffix forming verbs).
Words formed from profane
Words that rhyme with profane
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- public domain
- reign
- swain
- terrain
Questions about profane
- What does profane mean?
- Profane means unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
- What is profane in Hindi?
- Profane in Hindi is मुर्दार (murdār). See Profane meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use profane in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is profane?
- Profane can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce profane?
- Profane is pronounced /pɹəˈfeɪn/ (UK).
Words near profane in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: profane (page history and authors); मुर्दार (Hindi) (page history and authors); profane (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); مردار (Urdu) (page history and authors); profane (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); അശ്ലീലം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); profane (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
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Cite this entry: “profane.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/profane. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.