one of several deities, especially a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldly affairs.
an image of a deity; an idol.
any deified person or object.
a nebulous powerful force imagined to be responsible for one's fate.
The god of poker dealt me two aces.
Theater. gods,
the upper balcony in a theater.
the spectators in this part of the balcony.
the Supreme Being, worshiped as the creator or ultimate source of the universe.
the Supreme Being according to a particular religion or conception.
She called upon Allah, the God of Islam, for help.
the Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute.
May the God of mercy comfort you.
a supernatural being, who is worshipped as the controller of some part of the universe or some aspect of life in the world or is the personification of some force
an image, idol, or symbolic representation of such a deity
any person or thing to which excessive attention is given
money was his god
a man who has qualities regarded as making him superior to other men
(in plural) the gallery of a theatre
theol the sole Supreme Being, eternal, spiritual, and transcendent, who is the Creator and ruler of all and is infinite in all attributes; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
to behave in an imperious or superior manner
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch god, German Gott, Old Norse goth, Gothic guth
see origin at god ( def. )
A god is a supreme being or deity, and it's spelled with a lowercase g when you're not referring to the God of Christian, Jewish, or Muslim tradition. The ancient Greeks had many gods — including Zeus, Apollo, and Poseidon. A physical representation of a deity is also called a god. If you go to Hawaii, you can even buy a god in a gift shop — a statue or idol that represents one of the Hawaiian gods, like a figure of the god Pele. The word god also refers to a man of superior quality or exceptional beauty. Elvis Presley was considered a god by many teenage girls in the late 1950s.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"This is while my mum's in the same room, so I'm glad I didn't go on my own because God knows what would have happened if I had," said Anna.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
Warsh’s confirmation testimony cut through the fog: inflation is not an act of God, a shipping-container mystery, or a Gulf headline.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 6, 2026
And if they don’t have it, by God, they’ll build it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 2026
For LGBTQ+ Christians, it can be a spiritual one, a forced concealment that severs them from authentic relationships with communities they love and were raised in, and with God.
From Salon • Jun. 5, 2026
“How can you believe in God now?” he’d ask.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
