seraph

[ ser-uhf ]
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noun,plural ser·aphs, ser·a·phim [ser-uh-fim]. /ˈsɛr ə fɪm/.
  1. one of the celestial beings hovering above God's throne in Isaiah's vision. Isaiah 6.

  2. a member of the highest order of angels, often represented as a child's head with wings above, below, and on each side.

Origin of seraph

1
First recorded in 1660–70; back formation from seraphim

Other words from seraph

  • ser·aph·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use seraph in a sentence

  • He knew unworthy men full of complaint against an economy that would not let them live like demons, and be blessed as seraphs!

    There and Back | George MacDonald
  • She almost thought that she preferred pigs behind their palings to seraphs in laces.

    Paths of Judgement | Anne Douglas Sedgwick
  • Seraphs are democratic, and angels have developed a sense of humor that renders them more interesting than they used to be.

  • That babes are cherubs, if not seraphs, every mother knows; but it is not often the fact is recorded in our church registers.

  • They are fuel to the sacred fire—in the empyrean it may burn without fuel, and they who do so are seraphs.

    Anima Poet | Samuel Taylor Coleridge

British Dictionary definitions for seraph

seraph

/ (ˈsɛrəf) /


nounplural -aphs or -aphim (-əfɪm)
  1. theol a member of the highest order of angels in the celestial hierarchies, often depicted as the winged head of a child

  2. Old Testament one of the fiery six-winged beings attendant upon Jehovah in Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 6)

Origin of seraph

1
C17: back formation from plural seraphim, via Late Latin from Hebrew

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012