Most often used in a religious context, consecration is the act of dedicating something to God, sanctifying it and making it holy. For example, someone entering the priesthood goes through a consecration rite that establishes his holy commitment.
If we go to the root of consecration, we find the Latin noun sacer, or "sacred." Add the prefix con, meaning "with," and you can figure out that the verb consecrare means "to do with sacred dedication." In time, the word also came to mean any religious or secular action or dedication that indicated a strong commitment to some purpose, as in “He approached his job with the consecration of a religious zealot.”
