deva
Americannoun
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Hinduism, Buddhism. a god or divinity.
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Zoroastrianism. one of an order of evil spirits.
noun
Etymology
Origin of deva
From Sanskrit
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.
In Buddhism, matchmaking parents—sponsors—of a prospective couple are encouraged to consult an astrologist and, if unsuccessful, are urged to query an inner-world deva.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 4, 2019
Their holy day was, as the holy day of Christendom still is, Sunday, day of the Sun, an expression that comes from the Norse, on whom also shone the light of the Aryan deva.
From The Lords of the Ghostland A History of the Ideal by Edgar Saltus
There was as yet no necessity for defining deva or θεὁς, when applied to what was meant by gods, but of course the most opposite meanings had clustered round it.
From My Autobiography A Fragment by F. Max (Friedrich Max) Müller
On the other hand, in the gradual change in India of Iranic gods to devils, asuras, there is an exact counterpart to the Iranian change of meaning from deva to daeva.
From The Religions of India Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow by Edward Washburn Hopkins
To shepherds who, in seeking pasture for their flocks, were seeking also pasture for their souls, the deva became Indra.
From The Lords of the Ghostland A History of the Ideal by Edgar Saltus
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.
