bless
Americanverb (used with object)
-
blesses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blessed,
past participle, past
-
blest,
past participle, past
-
blessing
present participle
-
to consecrate or sanctify by a religious rite; make or pronounce holy.
-
to request of God the bestowal of divine favor on.
Bless this house.
-
to bestow good of any kind upon.
a nation blessed with peace.
-
to extol as holy; glorify.
Bless the name of the Lord.
-
to protect or guard from evil (usually used as an interjection).
Bless you! Bless your innocent little heart!
-
to condemn or curse.
I'll be blessed if I can see your reasoning. Bless me if it isn't my old friend!
-
to make the sign of the cross over or upon.
The Pope blessed the multitude.
verb
-
to consecrate or render holy, beneficial, or prosperous by means of a religious rite
-
to give honour or glory to (a person or thing) as divine or holy
-
to call upon God to protect; give a benediction to
-
to worship or adore (God); call or hold holy
-
(often passive) to grant happiness, health, or prosperity to
they were blessed with perfect peace
-
(usually passive) to endow with a talent, beauty, etc
she was blessed with an even temper
-
rare to protect against evil or harm
-
(interjection) an exclamation of well-wishing
-
(interjection)
-
a traditional phrase said to a person who has just sneezed
-
an exclamation of well-wishing or surprise
-
-
(interjection) an exclamation of surprise
-
to be desperately poor
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
blesssimple
-
blessessimple
-
have blessedperfect
-
have blestperfect
-
has blessedperfect
-
has blestperfect
-
am blessingprogressive
-
are blessingprogressive
-
is blessingprogressive
-
have been blessingperfect progressive
-
has been blessingperfect progressive
Past
-
blessedsimple
-
blestsimple
-
had blessedperfect
-
had blestperfect
-
was blessingprogressive
-
were blessingprogressive
-
had been blessingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bless
First recorded before 950; Middle English blessen, Old English blētsian, blēdsian “to consecrate” (originally done with blood), earlier *blōdisōian ( blōd “blood” + -isō- derivational suffix + -ian verb suffix); see blood
Explanation
To bless is to offer a holy seal of approval, like when a priest blesses water, making holy water. It’s also what people say when you sneeze: bless you, which is short for “may God bless you.” If you go back far enough, the word bless is related to the word blood, because of the blood sprinkled on pagan alters. It moved on to mean “to praise,” and now it’s a little of both (minus the pagans). In religious contexts, things are made holy when they're blessed. Also, people are blessed by good things that happen. People often say things like "I've been blessed with good health.” That means they were lucky to receive such good things.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Serving Western North Carolina has been the honor of my life,” he wrote on X. “Thank you for your trust, prayers, and support. God bless WNC and America.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
There, he will bless a plaque dedicated to Pope Francis -- who chose Lampedusa for his very first trip following his election in 2013 -- before celebrating mass in a sports field.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026
My wife does the bulk of the troubleshooting on these problems, bless her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
God bless the Tartan Army in all their beery magnificence.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
I mumbled shy thanks while Togbe said, “Mama Kafui, God bless you o!”
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
These are from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus blesses the poor, the meek and the peacemakers, and then calls on his followers to turn the other cheek and love their enemies.
From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026
If California blesses liability for the pace of innovation, other states will feel the pull.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
And his mother blesses him with water and basil leaves to keep the bad vibrations away.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 27, 2023
In González’s view, “God blesses those who shake hands with those who need it. I hope that the politicians think of us and give us that helping hand that we need.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2023
Her magic blesses us and all that we see.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
"I'm blessed that I've come from a long line of commercial fishing, and I'm blessed that I had the opportunity to do it," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
“I’m very delighted and blessed and thrilled to say I’ve got so many grandparents now.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Speculation began well before the blessed events of July 3rd.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
He has been blessed with terrific talent but clearly has melded that talent to win games and keep the clubhouse on the same page.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 4, 2026
Her gentle smile, her luminous eyes, her rose scented perfume filled me with an inner calm, and I felt blessed.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
It is “twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 24, 2017
"The nations, not so blest as thee / Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall; / While thou shalt flourish great and free, / The dread and envy of them all."
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2016
"In a land where movement is virtue, where the echo of heels clicking rapidly on pavement is inordinately blest, it is a grand, defiant, and edifying gesture to lie down for six months."
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2015
I blest His name that gave and took, That laid my goods now in the dust.
From The Guardian ● May 26, 2014
Such is their pure affection: a love which age can never wither, a love born of a prayer, and blest by God.
From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by E. Rameur
"The reunion was like a miracle from God. To see our daughter back sitting among us is a gift and blessing that could not be thanked enough for."
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
So while mFlusiva has the FDA’s blessing, Kennedy’s handpicked panel could still recommend that only a subset of Americans—say, people with compromised immune systems—get it.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
The single bright spot and mixed blessing to come out of all this is that her neighbors see Diarra as the go-to person for fixing lost causes and finding lost people.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
“A blessing and a curse for me is that we’ve documented it all,” says Jordan, whose background is in photography.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
But I had only made one and for my blessing, I had written, “I am healthy,” because Audrey had written that on one of hers.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
Definitions 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.
