First recorded in 1830–40; from Sanskrit Amitābha- “Infinite Light,” equivalent to amita “infinite, boundless” + ābhā “light, splendor”
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ms. Lhamo yelled at the knocked-down nun, looking straight into her eyes outside a whitewashed temple in the Druk Amitabha nunnery on a hill overlooking Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.
From New York Times • Feb. 26, 2023
Amitabha Panda, the state’s top statistician, said reasons included lack of registration centers, outdated data collection methods and wariness of extending outreach to areas where Maoist rebels held sway.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 16, 2017
One evening in March, Amitabha Mukherjee, an engineering manager at Parsons Brinckerhoff, the firm supervising construction at Second Avenue, led a small group through a tunnel headed from 69th Street toward 63rd.
From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2012
The O Baku School is the amalgamation of Zen and the worship of Amitabha, and different from the other two schools.
From The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan by Nukariya, Kaiten
In the distant West is said to dwell one named Amida, or Amitabha, that is to say “Illimitable Light.”
From Religion in Japan by Cobbold, George A. (George Augustus)
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.
