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Profane vs Outrageous - What's the difference?

profane | outrageous |

As adjectives the difference between profane and outrageous

is that profane is unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing while outrageous is cruel, violating morality or decency; provoking indignation or affront.

As a noun profane

is a person or thing that is profane.

As a verb profane

is to violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God.

profane

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things.
  • Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.
  • * I. Disraeli
    • profane authors
  • * Gibbon
    • The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.
  • Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or undue familiarity; blasphemous, impious. Hence, specifically; Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a profane person, word, oath, or tongue.
    • a profane person, word, oath, or tongue
  • * Bible, 1 Timothy 1:9

    • Synonyms

    * (obscene) vulgar, inappropriate, obscene, debased, uncouth, offensive, ignoble, mean, lewd * secular * temporal * worldly * unsanctified * unhallowed * unholy * irreligious * irreverent * ungodly * wicked * godless * impious

    Antonyms

    * holy * sacred

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person or thing that is profane.
  • * 1796 , Matthew Lewis, The Monk , Folio Society 1985, p. 244:
    • The nuns were employed in religious duties established in honour of St Clare, and to which no profane was ever admitted.
  • (freemasonry) A person not a Mason.

    • Verb

    (profan)
  • To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God.
  • * 1851 ,
    • With one mind, their intent eyes all fastened upon the old man’s knife, as he carved the chief dish before him. 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.
  • To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile.

    • Antonyms

    * consecrate * sanctify

    Related terms

    * profanation * profanity English transitive verbs ----

    outrageous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Cruel, violating morality or decency; provoking indignation or affront.
  • * c. 1601 , (William Shakespeare), (Hamlet) , First Folio 1623:
    • To be, or not to be, that is the Question: / Whether 'tis Nobler in the minde to suffer / The Slings and Arrowes of outragious Fortune, / Or to take Armes against a Sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them [...].
  • * 2011 , Paul Wilson, (The Guardian) , 19 Oct 2011:
    • The Irish-French rugby union whistler Alain Rolland was roundly condemned for his outrageous decision that lifting a player into the air then turning him over so he falls on his head or neck amounted to dangerous play.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.4:
    • For els my feeble vessell, crazd and crackt / Through thy strong buffets and outrageous blowes, / Cannot endure, but needes it must be wrackt [...].
  • Transgressing reasonable limits; extravagant, immoderate.
  • * 2004 , David Smith, , 19 Dec 2004:
    • Audience members praised McKellen, best known for Shakespearean roles and as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, for his show-stealing turn as Twankey in a series of outrageous glitzy dresses.
  • Shocking; exceeding conventional behaviour; provocative.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
    • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
  • * 2001 , Imogen Tilden, (The Guardian) , 8 Dec 2001:
  • *:"It's something I really am quite nervous about," he admits, before adding, with relish: "You have to be a bit outrageous and challenging sometimes."

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