sanctity
Americannoun
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holiness, saintliness, or godliness.
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sacred or hallowed character.
the inviolable sanctity of the temple.
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a sacred thing.
noun
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the condition of being sanctified; holiness
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anything regarded as sanctified or holy
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the condition of being inviolable; sacredness
the sanctity of marriage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of sanctity
1350–1400; < Latin sānctitās holiness, equivalent to sānct- ( see Sanctus) + -itās -ity; replacing Middle English sauntite < Anglo-French < Latin, as above
Explanation
Sanctity describes something that is holy, like the sanctity of religious objects to believers. Sanctity goes back to the Latin root sanctus, meaning "holy" or "sacred." A synonym for sanctity is godliness and most religions describe God as completely holy. Sanctity also can describe sacred obligation or rights — you may have heard of the sanctity of marriage, meaning the value and respect society shows to married people.
Vocabulary lists containing sanctity
"Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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This Week in Pop Culture: April 6–12, 2019
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The Handmaid's Tale
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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.
They are trained to clearly identify themselves, de-escalate tensions, respect the sanctity of life and quickly render aid to anyone they wound.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 28, 2026
The first came on Monday morning, with his case for the sanctity of the sovereignty of Greenland and a plea for "calm discussion".
From BBC • Jan. 23, 2026
Investors would focus intently on terms related to contract sanctity and stability, as well as access to international arbitration.
From Barron's • Dec. 19, 2025
Such trivial concerns were left to lesser schools, institutions that perhaps couldn’t appreciate the sanctity of a 10-week regular season, the purity of life without football scholarships, or the venerable tradition of Harvard-Yale.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 22, 2025
They sat in the back, rigid and uncomfortable, like sisters of sin, like a living defiance of the drab sanctity of the saints.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
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.
