profaning

verb

present participle of profane
1
as in degrading
to lower in character, dignity, or quality the once-lovely landscape had been profaned by ugly factories

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in abusing
to put to a bad or improper use profaned his considerable acting talents by appearing in some wretched movies

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in violating
to treat (a sacred place or object) shamefully or with great disrespect invading troops profaned the altar by playing poker on it

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for profaning
  1. degrading
  2. abusing
  3. violating
  4. corrupting
  5. misusing
  6. subverting
  7. perverting
  8. debauching
Verb
  • For instance, excess ions fail to enter the graphite quickly enough and form performance-degrading metallic deposits on the surface (lithium plating).
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 24 Aug. 2026
  • The Tate brothers built a global following, became extremely wealthy, and gained cultural and political influence by degrading and harming women.
    — Jodi Bondi Norgaard, Chicago Tribune, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of degrading
Verb
  • Communities from Lansing, Michigan, to Pflugerville, Texas, are ending their relationship with Flock, largely over concerns regarding out-of-control surveillance, unwanted data sharing, high expenses, and reports of police abusing the tool.
    — Cyrus Farivar, ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Countless cops, meanwhile, are abusing the cameras to stalk women.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of abusing
Verb
  • The Seoul Central District Court convicted Han, widow of church founder Sun Myung Moon, of violating the political funds act, bribery and embezzling church funds, the court said in a statement.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The bill also increases the maximum penalties for violating local fireworks ordinances to $1,000 for a first offense, $2,000 for a second offense and $5,000 for each additional offense within five years of the first.
    — Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of violating
Verb
  • The Apology is Plato’s version of the speech of self-defense Socrates gives when he is tried by the city of Athens for corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods.
    — Agnes Callard, The New York Review of Books, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The judge also said that Nine PBS must find a third party, such as a former OSS worker, who can help retrieve the data within 30 days and without sharing or corrupting data belonging to other OSS clients.
    — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of corrupting
Verb
  • The Washington Post and other news outlets have recently reported on incidents of individual police officers misusing information collected by license plate readers for personal reasons, such as tracking the movements of former romantic partners.
    — Joseph Flaherty, Arkansas Online, 28 Aug. 2026
  • She was arrested two days later on charges of misusing a license plate reader system.
    — Kenny Jacoby, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of misusing
Verb
  • The show also pokes fun at the late 1990s and early 2000s liberal cultural consensus that was upheld in other popular culture of the time while also both replicating and subverting stereotypes of suburban Southern white Americans.
    — Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Aug. 2026
  • The state alleges OpenAI's rapid success stems from deceit and exploitation, causing widespread harm to Floridians and subverting public order.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of subverting
Verb
  • The trial collapsed after the journalist was found to have tampered with evidence (he was later convicted of perverting the course of justice).
    — K.J. Yossman, Variety, 23 June 2026
  • He was also found guilty of perverting the court of justice.
    — StyleCaster Editors, StyleCaster, 27 Mar. 2026
Definition of perverting
Verb
  • The 2026 State of the Union speech stands in contrast, a speech by a mendacious demagogue who has degraded his listeners by debauching their instincts.
    — Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 26 Feb. 2026
Definition of debauching
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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profanes
profaning
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Cite this Entry

“Profaning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/profaning. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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