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• beatitude
  beatitude

  noun

  supreme blessedness; exalted happiness.
• Beatitude
  Beatitude

  noun

  New Testament any of eight distinctive sayings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–11) in which he declares that the poor, the meek, those that mourn, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure of heart, those that thirst for justice, and those that are persecuted will, in various ways, receive the blessings of heaven

beatitude

American  

[bee-at-i-tood, -tyood] / biˈæt ɪˌtud, -ˌtjud /

noun

beatitudes plural

1. supreme blessedness; exalted happiness.

2. (often initial capital letter) any of the declarations of blessedness pronounced by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

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beatitude ¹ British  

/ bɪˈætɪˌtjuːd /

noun

1. supreme blessedness or happiness

2. an honorific title of the Eastern Christian Church, applied to those of patriarchal rank

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Beatitude ² British  

/ bɪˈætɪˌtjuːd /

noun

1. New Testament any of eight distinctive sayings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–11) in which he declares that the poor, the meek, those that mourn, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure of heart, those that thirst for justice, and those that are persecuted will, in various ways, receive the blessings of heaven

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• beatitudes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of beatitude

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin beātitūdō perfect happiness, equivalent to beāti- ( see beatific) + -tūdō -tude

Explanation

If you're extraordinarily happy, you might describe what you're feeling as beatitude. The noun beatitude refers to a state of great joy. Being blessed, or at least feeling blessed, is often linked to beatitude. Beatitude inherited its blessedness from the Latin word beatus, meaning both "happy" and "blessed." In the Bible, the Beatitudes are a series of eight blessings, such as "Blessed are those poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And in 1958 writer Jack Kerouac coined the term "The Beat Generation" because he felt its members were seeking beatitude.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beatitude Beatitude beatitudes

Religious folks have words for such spasmodic departures from the everyday, like beatitude, nirvana, ecstasy.

From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2025

It also supplies a backdrop of human folly to throw the beatitude of Adam and his robot kin into sharp relief.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2019

As he understood it, enlightenment is not a state of permanent bliss and beatitude.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 29, 2017

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Art II said while reading the seventh beatitude, “for they shall be called the children of God.”

From Washington Times ● Apr. 18, 2017

A smile as of celestial beatitude came over his countenance, though I knew not wherefore he was thus rejoiced.

From The Devil's Elixir Vol. II (of 2) by Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus)

The Vatican, and before it the Holy See’s embassy in Ukraine, spoke out after Ukraine’s Greek Catholic leader, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, bitterly complained about Francis’ remarks.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 29, 2023

A founding member of Beatitude, the seminal Beat periodical, alongside Allen Ginsberg, John Kelly and others, Kaufman is sometimes shorthanded as the “Black Beat.”

From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2023

“I know that your Beatitude will continue in this commitment to fostering the unity of all Christ’s disciples,” said the Nuncio.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 2023

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who heads the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, “for a truce on the occasion of the celebration of Easter according to the Julian calendar,” which takes place Sunday.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 21, 2022

The first Beatitude enjoins detachment, such as His who emptied Himself, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

From Outspoken Essays by Inge, William Ralph

Virtually from the moment they started writing songs, Jagger and Richards were drawn to darkness: certainly, they were better at depicting decay and decadence than delivering pie-eyed hippy beatitudes.

From The Guardian ● May 17, 2018

Every one of Jesus’s beatitudes was fewer than 140 characters, so there’s no reason the faith’s message cannot be delivered effectively in today’s social media era.

From Time ● Mar. 18, 2016

This was a Sermon on the Mount moment, wherein the beatitudes of a new era were laid down.

From Slate ● May 1, 2015

There, East German Bishop Johannes Janicke of East Germany's Evangelical Church preached a sermon based on the beatitudes that had a distinctly contemporary relevance.

From Time Magazine Archive

But not only are they actions, they produce as an effect joy in the heart; for which reason it is that we call them beatitudes.

From The Abiding Presence of the Holy Ghost in the Soul by Jarrett, Bede