Kālī
noun
the wife of Shiva and the malevolent form of the Mother Goddess.
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Kalki.
Kālī
American
[kah-lee]
/ ˈkɑ li /
noun
Hinduism.
Kali
1
British
/ ˈkɑːlɪ /
noun
kali
2
British
/ ˈkeɪ-, ˈkælɪ /
noun
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:
One night the goddess Kālī came to the Rājā’s palace and knocked at the gate: but no one would come to open it.
From Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas
“It’s a special time of year,” said Kali Kniel, a professor of microbial food safety at the University of Delaware.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Tattooist Kali says she was "ecstatic" when she learned of the court's decision last week.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
Telepatía singer Kali Uchis also announced she was taking down their collaboration, Crashing.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
It’s the end of a long day that began with an early-morning flight from New York, where Lenae performed with Kali Uchis on “The Tonight Show” and at Madison Square Garden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
“You must not allow it so early,” Kali said to me ominously, “or her legs will bend like hoops.”
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Some scholars have suggested that the name was derived from the Latin words calida fornax, meaning a hot furnace, or from a Native American phrase, kali forno, that means high hill or native land.
From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
The handheld tablet beeped as if imitating R2-D2 and then said what sounded like, “Aya tai ahili che dev kali musha.”
From Slate ● May 11, 2012
Aug. 14 kali: Sunflowers are all over the place lately.
From Time Magazine Archive
Much of this unofficial labor is carried out in the open air and is called jua kali -- "hot sun."
From Time Magazine Archive
And for traditional Hindus, leaving India and traveling on the ocean—it was called “crossing the black water,” the kali pana—was forbidden.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
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.
