Verb

(transitive)  To profane or violate the sacredness or sanctity of something.

* 1916 — James Whitcomb Riley, The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley , Volume 10.

It's reform -- reform! You're going to 'turn over a new leaf,' and all that, and sign the pledge, and quit cigars, and go to work, and pay your debts, and gravitate back into Sunday-school, where you can make love to the preacher's daughter under the guise of religion, and desecrate the sanctity of the innermost pale of the church by confessions at Class of your 'thorough conversion'!

(transitive)  To remove the consecration from someone or something; to deconsecrate.

(transitive)  To inappropriately change.

* 1913 — William Alexander Lambeth and Warren H. Manning, Thomas Jefferson as an Architect and a Designer of Landscapes.

A subsequent owner has desecrated the main hall and robbed it of its grandeur by putting in a floor just beneath the circular windows in order to make an upper room over the hall.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done. […] A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}

Verb

(en-verb)

To not allow.

I wanted to go to the party, but I was denied .

* 1847 , Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey Chapter XVI

'Do! pray do! I shall be the most miserable of men if you don't. You cannot be so cruel as to deny me a favour so easily granted and yet so highly prized!' pleaded he as ardently as if his life depended on it.

To assert that something is not true.

I deny that I was at the party.

Everyone knows he committed the crime, but he still denies it.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=November 1 , author=James Robinson and Lisa O'Carroll , title=Phone hacking: NoW warned about 'culture of illegal information access' , work=The Guardian citation , page= , passage=But Myler and Crone told the committee in September that they had made Murdoch aware at the 10 June 2008 meeting that hacking was not restricted to a single journalist. They claimed this was the reason Murdoch agreed to settle the Taylor's case. James Murdoch subsequently wrote to the committee to deny this. }}

To disallow

to refuse to give or grant something to someone

My father denied me a good education.

* J. Edwards

To some men, it is more agreeable to deny a vicious inclination, than to gratify it.

* {{quote-news

, year=2008 , date=April 12 , author= , title=Mother denied daughter's organs , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=A mother who urgently needs a kidney transplant has branded the system which denied her the organs of her dying daughter as "ridiculous".}}

(sports) To prevent from scoring.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=November 3 , author=Chris Bevan , title=Rubin Kazan 1 - 0 Tottenham , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Another Karadeniz cross led to Cudicini's first save of the night, with the Spurs keeper making up for a weak punch by brilliantly pushing away Christian Noboa's snap-shot.
Two more top-class stops followed quickly afterwards, first from Natcho's rasping shot which was heading into the top corner, and then to deny Ryazantsev at his near post.}}

To disclaim connection with, responsibility for, etc.; to refuse to acknowledge; to disown; to abjure; to disavow.

* Bancroft

the falsehood of denying his opinion

* Keble

thou thrice denied , yet thrice beloved

(obsolete) To refuse (to do or accept something).

* Shakespeare

if you deny to dance