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  • Calvary
    Calvary
    noun
    Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified.
  • calvary
    calvary
    noun
    (often capital) a representation of Christ's crucifixion, usually sculptured and in the open air
Synonyms

Calvary

American  
[kal-vuh-ree] / ˈkæl və ri /

noun

  • Calvaries
    plural
  1. Bible. Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified.

  2. Often calvary a sculptured representation of the Crucifixion, usually erected in the open air.

  3. none calvary an experience or occasion of extreme suffering, especially mental suffering.


Calvary 1 British  
/ ˈkælvərɪ /

noun

  1. Also called: Golgotha. the place just outside the walls of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified

"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

calvary 2 British  
/ ˈkælvərɪ /

noun

  1. (often capital) a representation of Christ's crucifixion, usually sculptured and in the open air

  2. any experience involving great suffering

"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

Calvary Cultural  
  1. The hill near Jerusalem (see also Jerusalem) on which Jesus was crucified. The name is Latin for “Place of the Skull”; it is also called Golgotha. (See Crucifixion.)


Pronunciation

See irrelevant.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of Calvary

First recorded before 1000; from Late Latin Calvāria “Calvary,” from Latin calvāria “a skull,” used to translate Greek kraníon cranium, itself a translation of the Aramaic name; see Golgotha


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:

Pioneer Park used to be Calvary cemetery once upon a time.

From Salon ● May 9, 2026

Actor Gary Lydon who starred in films such as Calvary, The Guard and The Banshees of Inisherin, has died aged 61.

From BBC ● May 3, 2026

At the Calvary Baptist Church in Minneapolis, the doors swung open and shut as locals sought refuge from the biting cold on Sunday.

From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2026

Class was in session at Calvary Christian School.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2025

The dim Chapel of Calvary held a mournful mural of Jesus lying arms outspread and dead on the cross after it was taken down and laid on the ground.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye

Ms. Haley arrived at the high school with her own calvary.

From New York Times ● Jan. 23, 2024

And when the calvary arrives in Episode 6 of "The Rings of Power," they do so on horses.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2022

So began a calvary of severe fatigue, brain fog, imbalance and other symptoms that are still with her eight months later.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2021

His calvary - his enemies would say "deceit" - goes back to 2006.

From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2016

Ranville has an old church tower standing in lonely fashion by itself, and you pass a conspicuous calvary as you go on to the curious little seaside resort known as Le Home-Sur-Mer.

From Normandy, Illustrated, Part 3 by Gordon Home

Dangerous passions of pride, hatred and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; truth lies prostrate on the rugged hills of nameless Calvaries.

From Time Magazine Archive

And I was shown in that Vision the Calvaries of maternity common to all, whether the conception be immaculate, so-called if within the law, or maculate, so-called if without the law.

From A Cry in the Wilderness by Mary E. (Mary Ella) Waller

Only one hand of the Christ there had been burned, and the body hanging on the Cross was unscathed, like so many of those Calvaries which I have seen in shell-fired places.

From From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917 by Philip Gibbs

Ascending the mountain by a well-beaten path, we passed a number of "Calvaries" filled with tattered saints and Virgins, and soon came upon the rim of a flattened bowl quite clasped by the mountains.

From The Glaciers of the Alps Being a narrative of excursions and ascents, etc. by John Tyndall

They were the Calvaries of a new redemption being wrought out for men by soiled unconscious Christs.

From The Glory of the Trenches by Coningsby Dawson

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