Showing contempt or disrespect toward something sacred or holy, or treating something sacred with irreverence.
From Latin 'sacrilegus' (temple robber), combining 'sacer' (sacred) and 'legere' (to steal or gather). Originally meant physically stealing from temples.
People always mispronounce this as 'sack-religious' but it's actually 'sack-ruh-LIJ-us'—and ironically, this mispronunciation is itself almost sacrilegious to Latin speakers!
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