god
1 Americannoun
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one of several deities, especially a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldly affairs.
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an image of a deity; an idol.
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any deified person or object.
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a nebulous powerful force imagined to be responsible for one's fate.
The god of poker dealt me two aces.
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Theater. gods,
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the upper balcony in a theater.
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the spectators in this part of the balcony.
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verb (used with object)
noun
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the Supreme Being, worshiped as the creator or ultimate source of the universe.
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the Supreme Being according to a particular religion or conception.
She called upon Allah, the God of Islam, for help.
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the Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute.
May the God of mercy comfort you.
interjection
noun
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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
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an image, idol, or symbolic representation of such a deity
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any person or thing to which excessive attention is given
money was his god
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a man who has qualities regarded as making him superior to other men
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(in plural) the gallery of a theatre
noun
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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
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to behave in an imperious or superior manner
interjection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of god1
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch god, German Gott, Old Norse goth, Gothic guth
Origin of God2
see origin at god ( def. )
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing god
Reading: Literature - Mythology - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Mythology - Middle School
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Ancient Greece: Mythology and Literature - Middle School
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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:
"My customers love it and then some of them, for example, they come in Spode, they can't move, in front of the entrance, like 'oh my god i'm in Stoke, i'm in Spode'," she beamed.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
A chorus of “oohs!” rang around the field, and one teammate said, “Oh my god, Carter … you got knocked on your ass!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
In the filmmaker’s imagination, the trick of hiding Greek warriors inside a wood contraption was more believable if it looked like a waterlogged offering to a god left by a departed army.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
"Replanned of god" declares the Sun, with a photograph of Mexico City's Azteca Stadium splashed across the paper's front page.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
“My god, I can’t believe it actually worked.”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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It also said: "God is still holding your body together, every heartbeat, every breath, even when it feels like you are on the brink."
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
And God or whatever higher power was like, ‘Now, now.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
“And I used to say, ‘Well, God, I want to be him.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
I thank God that we have been slow followers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Please, God, don’t let it be Alex in my Flash.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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That made its giant beast gods feel real too, along with their snarling rage against annihilation.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
In Homer’s original poem, the gods hold meetings, argue, play favorites and meddle so routinely in human affairs that Athena is practically a second protagonist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The social media gods have been good to Matejka, and the Kardashian story is only half of it.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
When the story randomly popped up on Drew’s LinkedIn feed, it seemed that the gods of dating intervened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Do they have language arts classes teaching adolescent gods to write essays in Adinkra symbols?
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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This last old man, Whom with crack'd heart I have sent to Rome, Lov'd me above the measure of a father; Nay, godded me indeed.
From Coriolanus by Shakespeare, William
This last old man, Whom with a crack'd heart I haue sent to Rome, Lou'd me, aboue the measure of a Father, Nay godded me indeed.
From Coriolanus by Shakespeare, William
The earth not paeans thee, nor serves thy hest, Be godded not by Heaven! avert thy face, And leave to blank disgrace The oblivious world! unsceptre thee of state and place!
From New Poems by Thompson, Francis
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.