miracle
Americannoun
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miracles
plural
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an effect or extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.
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such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God.
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a wonder; marvel.
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a wonderful or surpassing example of some quality.
a miracle of modern acoustics.
noun
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an event that is contrary to the established laws of nature and attributed to a supernatural cause
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any amazing or wonderful event
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a person or thing that is a marvellous example of something
the bridge was a miracle of engineering
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short for miracle play
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(modifier) being or seeming a miracle
a miracle cure
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of miracle
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English miracle, miracul, from Old French miracle, from Latin mīrāculum, from mīrā(rī) “to wonder at” + -culum -cle 2
Explanation
A miracle is an event so marvelous that it seems like it was sent from above. Catching that foul ball from the stands at the World Series? A miracle! Miracle, a noun meaning “amazing or wonderful occurrence," comes from the Latin miraculum “object of wonder." Dig way back and the word derives from smeiros, meaning "to smile," which is exactly what you do when a miracle happens. To quote the American-French author Anais Nin, “The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.” Just ask any rock star.
Vocabulary lists containing miracle
It's Lit: Hanukkah Words
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The Circuit
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"The Flying Machine" by Ray Bradbury
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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.
See Examples For:
She described Blair's physical achievements since her MS diagnosis as "nothing short of a miracle" and noted that she still lives with pain daily.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
However, if stocks are priced too high or purchased with an abundance of debt, a crash can happen, as in 1929–33, when investors “fail to distinguish the miracle from the investment.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
"But somehow the crop turned out bigger and more beautiful than in previous years. It was a miracle," she said, recalling some 20-hour days in the field.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
“Now I understand,” she writes, “there are no ordinary lives—that every death is the end of a single event in time’s history: an event so improbable it represents a miracle, and irreplaceable in every particular.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Through the miracle of the wireless telegraph, news of the whirlwind romance between Camilla Cranston and Lord Peter Henslowe reached two continents before we docked.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
"I later went on to have two children, which he told me were both miracles," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Their supporters don't expect miracles, but wanting a piece of what Bodo/Glimt, Midtjylland, Freiburg, Rayo Vallecano and others had, or still have, is not unreasonable given the spending power that Celtic have.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Sometimes miracles happen, or leaders drag their regimes in a different direction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, last year put Gaudí on the path to sainthood, a multistage process that depends on the Catholic Church confirming claims of miracles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
She believed that a lot of miracles happened in that home to keep us alive.
From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
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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.
