one of a class of spiritual beings; a celestial attendant of God. In medieval angelology, angels constituted the lowest of the nine celestial orders (seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations or dominions, virtues, powers, principalities or princedoms, archangels, and angels).
a conventional representation of such a being, in human form, with wings, usually in white robes.
a messenger, especially of God.
a person who performs a mission of God or acts as if sent by God.
an angel of mercy.
a person having qualities generally attributed to an angel, as beauty, purity, or kindliness.
a person whose actions and thoughts are consistently virtuous.
an attendant or guardian spirit.
a deceased person whose soul is regarded as having been accepted into heaven.
a person who provides financial backing for some undertaking, as a play, political campaign, or business venture.
A group of angels entered the mix, providing George the leverage he needed to take the startup company in a new direction.
Angels seek deals that they can exit in less than a decade.
an English gold coin issued from 1470 to 1634, varying in value from 6s. 8d. to 10s. and bearing on its obverse a figure of the archangel Michael killing a dragon.
Slang. an image on a radar screen caused by a low-flying object, as a bird.
theol one of a class of spiritual beings attendant upon God. In medieval angelology they are divided by rank into nine orders: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations (or dominions), virtues, powers, principalities (or princedoms), archangels, and angels
a divine messenger from God
a guardian spirit
a conventional representation of any of these beings, depicted in human form with wings
informal a person, esp a woman, who is kind, pure, or beautiful
informal an investor in a venture, esp a backer of a theatrical production
Also called: angel-noble. a former English gold coin with a representation of the archangel Michael on it, first minted in Edward IV's reign
informal an unexplained signal on a radar screen
Spelling tips for angel The word angel is hard to spell for two reasons. First, it is very close in spelling to angle, as in the space between two lines that meet at a point. Second, the beginning sound [ eyn ] is not spelled the way it sounds. How to spell angel: The first letter of angel is a, not e, because Angels are Amazing. The way to remember that angel ends in an l is that both devil and angel are celestial beings, and they both end in l. Similarly, angle and line are both mathematics terms, and they both end in e.
First recorded before 950; 1890–95 angel for def. 9; Middle English a(u)ngel, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Late Latin angelus, from New Testament Greek ángelos “messenger of God,” special use of Greek ángelos “messenger” (to translate Hebrew mal'ākh ), of disputed origin, frequently connected to ángaros “Persian mounted courier,” suggesting derivation from an uncertain source possibly akin to Akkadian agâru “to hire” or egertu “letter,” Persian angareh “journal, narrative,” or Sanskrit ajira “swift”; replacing Old English engel, from Latin, as above
An angel is a messenger of God, characterized as having human form with wings and a halo. The word suggests goodness, and is often used to refer to someone who offers comfort and aid to others in times of trouble. As a child, you looked like an innocent angel; appearances can be deceiving. The word angel derives from the Greek angelos, meaning "messenger." It is used in the Bible to denote God's attendants, with angels often depicted as being guardians of humans, an idea found in ancient Asian cultures as well. The Biblical sense was continued in a medieval gold coin called an angel, which depicted the archangel Michael. The word has been applied to angel fish, so named because they appear to have wings, and nurses, often called "angels of mercy."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But staging her to stand in front of one of the many animatronic butterflies that lined the stage in such a way that it looked like she had angel wings was … a choice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
In an interview this month with the Mercury News, Gabrielle Hanson called Aurora “an angel on this earth” and said that she and her husband tried to help the girl during her asthma attack.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Sara Holoubek is the founding partner of Luminary Labs, a strategy and innovation consultancy, an independent board director and angel investor.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff and hedge-fund manager Brad Gerstner are among the angel investors in the round.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Is the angel flying through the wall of the Annunciation of St Anne intended to be an accurate representation of what Mary saw?
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The talking heads are all too willing to critique Hurts and others like Kyrie Irving and Angel Reese, only to eat crow each time they accomplish something on the field or on the court.
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026
Angel Row is currently closed and a large police scene remains in place.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
The judge ruled last week that the three Mexican defendants, identified only by their first names -- Jesus Gerardo, Irineo Francisco and Angel Jesus -- acted with premeditation.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The maker of Claude hosted public-market investors at its San Francisco office Wednesday for a marathon day of presentations ahead of its planned IPO, Kate Clark, Angel Au-Yeung and Corrie Driebusch report for the Journal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Me and Angel are working on poem stuff at the playground by Miz Rita’s place.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
What these ecstatic works signify—and whether they depict angels or demons, predators or prey, creators or destroyers—remains elusive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
But if you are an AI company about to launch an IPO, you say that very soon you will cure cancers, produce music only angels have heard, solve equations that have bedeviled mankind for millennia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Even if one is coming, “of that day and that hour knoweth no man,” not even “the angels which are in heaven.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
His San Gregorio Polyptych, painted in 1473, depicts the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus Christ, flanked by St Gregory and St Benedict as well as several angels.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
It’s like being pulled into a whole other world, one with ghosts and angels and monsters, and I lose myself in it.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
Through his second largest philanthropy, the General Education Board, he angeled Progressive Education.
From Time Magazine Archive
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
