deconsecration.

The formal removal of a building or place's status as dedicated to religious use.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• deconsecration of a church
• formal deconsecration

On the page

Deconsecration preceded the conversion of the church into a theatre.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: uncommon.