desecrate- to violate or outrage the sacred character of an object or place by destructive, blasphemous, or sacrilegious action
C17 from de+ consecrate
desecrator, desecration
Prior to the board's split vote last summer, preservationists had mounted an intense lobbying effort against a Wal-Mart at that location because they said it would desecrate an unprotected part of the battlefield.
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