Also called Holy Scripture. Also called Holy Scriptures. Often Scriptures. the sacred writings of the Old or New Testaments or both together.
(often lowercase) any writing or book, especially when of a sacred or religious nature.
(sometimes lowercase) a particular passage from the Bible; text.
Also called: Holy Scripture. Holy Writ. the Scriptures. Christianity the Old and New Testaments
any book or body of writings, esp when regarded as sacred by a particular religious group
1250–1300; Middle English < Latin scrīptūra writing. See script, -ure
Scripture is a sacred religious text. It usually refers to the Christian Bible, but it can refer to other religions' texts as well. The noun scripture is most often used for specifically Christian writing, and it's often capitalized. However, it can refer to any religion's sacred writing: "Hindu scripture is written on the walls of the temple." In the 1300s, scripture sometimes meant simply "writing," though it more often referred to sacred words, especially in the Christian Bible. Its root word is the Latin script, or "writing."
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“Throughout the Scripture, there are two kinds of leaders: those who persecute faith communities and those who protect them,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2026
Appeared in the November 14, 2025, print edition as 'The Catholic Case for Purgatory in Scripture'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
The judgment of Solomon, found in Chapter 3 of 1 Kings, is one of the most familiar stories in the Hebrew Scripture.
From Slate • Sep. 5, 2025
Scripture does not record the birth date of Jesus Christ, and so early Christian scholars spent centuries wrangling over when to celebrate this most important apotheosis.
From Salon • Dec. 24, 2024
Momma used the baubles to buy several hogs, and that was how Rose Hill came to have pork chops every Sunday after the Scripture was read.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
