CONSECRATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does consecrate mean? 

• CONSECRATE (adjective)
  The adjective CONSECRATE has 1 sense:

1. solemnly dedicated to or set apart for a high or sacred purpose

  Familiarity information: CONSECRATE used as an adjective is very rare.

• CONSECRATE (verb)
  The verb CONSECRATE has 4 senses:

1. appoint to a clerical posts

2. give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause

3. dedicate to a deity by a vow

4. render holy by means of religious rites

  Familiarity information: CONSECRATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONSECRATE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Solemnly dedicated to or set apart for a high or sacred purpose

Synonyms:

consecrate; consecrated; dedicated

Context example:

a chapel dedicated to the dead of World War II

Similar:

ordained (invested with ministerial or priestly functions)

votive (dedicated in fulfillment of a vow)

Also:

holy (belonging to or derived from or associated with a divine power)

sacred (concerned with religion or religious purposes)

• CONSECRATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they consecrate    ... he / she / it consecrates   
Past simple: consecrated   
Past participle: consecrated   
-ing form: consecrating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Appoint to a clerical posts

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

consecrate; ordain; order; ordinate

Context example:

he was ordained in the Church

Hypernyms (to "consecrate" is one way to...):

enthrone; invest; vest (provide with power and authority)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

consecration ((religion) sanctification of something by setting it apart (usually with religious rites) as dedicated to God)

consecration (a solemn commitment of your life or your time to some cherished purpose (to a service or a goal))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

commit; consecrate; dedicate; devote; give

Context example:

consecrate your life to the church

Hypernyms (to "consecrate" is one way to...):

apply; employ; use; utilise; utilize (put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose)

Verb group:

give (offer in good faith)

give; sacrifice (endure the loss of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "consecrate"):

consecrate; vow (dedicate to a deity by a vow)

rededicate (dedicate anew)

apply (apply oneself to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

consecration (a solemn commitment of your life or your time to some cherished purpose (to a service or a goal))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Dedicate to a deity by a vow

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

consecrate; vow

Hypernyms (to "consecrate" is one way to...):

commit; consecrate; dedicate; devote; give (give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

consecration ((religion) sanctification of something by setting it apart (usually with religious rites) as dedicated to God)

consecration (a solemn commitment of your life or your time to some cherished purpose (to a service or a goal))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Render holy by means of religious rites

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bless; consecrate; hallow; sanctify

Hypernyms (to "consecrate" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "consecrate"):

reconsecrate (consecrate anew, as after a desecration)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Antonym:

desecrate (remove the consecration from a person or an object)

Derivation:

consecration ((religion) sanctification of something by setting it apart (usually with religious rites) as dedicated to God)

 Context examples 

Let the day therefore be fixed; and on it I will consecrate myself, in life or death, to the happiness of my cousin.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But as it is, either our union must be consecrated and sealed by marriage, or it cannot exist: practical obstacles oppose themselves to any other plan.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Consecrate your existence to the recollection of James Steerforth's tenderness—he would have made you his serving-man's wife, would he not?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then was he anointed and consecrated, and thus was fulfilled what he had heard from the frogs on his way, which had so affected him, that he was to be his Holiness the Pope.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Chase away your idle fears; to you alone do I consecrate my life and my endeavours for contentment.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

No,—I exaggerate; I never thought there was any consecrating virtue about her: it was rather a sort of pastille perfume she had left; a scent of musk and amber, than an odour of sanctity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I also became a poet and for one year lived in a paradise of my own creation; I imagined that I also might obtain a niche in the temple where the names of Homer and Shakespeare are consecrated.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

One morning, being left alone with him a few minutes in the parlour, I ventured to approach the window-recess—which his table, chair, and desk consecrated as a kind of study—and I was going to speak, though not very well knowing in what words to frame my inquiry—for it is at all times difficult to break the ice of reserve glassing over such natures as his—when he saved me the trouble by being the first to commence a dialogue.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Happening to call one evening when Celine did not expect me, I found her out; but it was a warm night, and I was tired with strolling through Paris, so I sat down in her boudoir; happy to breathe the air consecrated so lately by her presence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)