Definition of "deconsecrate" []

• To make (a church, synagogue, or temple, for example) no longer consecrated. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "That the whole of the area which the temple of Jupiter was to occupy might be wholly devoted to that deity, he decided to deconsecrate the fanes and chapels, some of which had been originally vowed by King Tatius at the crisis of his battle with Romulus, and subsequently consecrated and inaugurated."
• "He denied her privileges; he strove to deconsecrate her sanctuary."
• "Peter Borre, co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, which formed to fight church closings, anticipated the Cardinal's decision and said the vigils will continue and the decision will be appealed to the Vatican, which has already reversed the decisions by some U.S. bishops to deconsecrate churches."