holy
Americanadjective
-
holier,
comparative
-
holiest
superlative
-
specially recognized as or declared sacred by religious use or authority; consecrated.
holy ground.
- Synonyms:
- blessed
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dedicated or devoted to the service of God, the church, or religion.
a holy man.
-
saintly; godly; pious; devout.
a holy life.
-
having a spiritually pure quality.
a holy love.
- Synonyms:
- spiritual
-
entitled to worship or veneration as or as if sacred.
a holy relic.
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holy rites.
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inspiring fear, awe, or grave distress.
The director, when angry, is a holy terror.
-
(used in certain interjections to express surprise, bewilderment, or wonder, as in holy cow andholy smoke. )
noun
-
holies
plural
adjective
-
of, relating to, or associated with God or a deity; sacred
-
endowed or invested with extreme purity or sublimity
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devout, godly, or virtuous
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offensively sanctimonious or self-righteous
a holier-than-thou attitude
-
-
a difficult or frightening person
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informal a person who is an active gambler, womanizer, etc
-
noun
Synonym Usage
Holy, sacred, consecrated, hallowed imply possession of a sanctity that is the object of religious veneration. Holy refers to the divine, that which has its sanctity directly from God or is connected with Him: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Something that is sacred, while sometimes accepted as entitled to religious veneration, may have its sanctity from human authority: a sacred oath. Something that is consecrated is specially or formally dedicated to some religious use: a life consecrated to service. Something that is hallowed has been made holy by being worshiped: a hallowed shrine.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of holy
First recorded before 900; Middle English holi, Old English hālig, variant of hāleg, equivalent to hāl whole + -eg -y 1; cognate with Dutch, German heilig, Old Norse heilagr
Explanation
Something that is sacred can be described as holy, like the Holy Bible. So can anything associated with God, like a holy day that is observed by attending worship ceremonies. The adjective holy comes from the Old English word hālig and is related to the German word heilig, meaning “blessed.” There is a relationship between holy and whole, and the religious sense probably developed from keeping believers spiritually whole — and pure. A place, object, or person who has been blessed can be described as holy, meaning "associated with God."
Vocabulary lists containing holy
Abbey Road
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Eid al-Adha
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All Saints' Day
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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:
Other items in the auction were Gandhi's notes on God and the Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita, his portable spinning wheel and two letters about the spiritual discipline of spinning.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
But her journey ends in an abandoned diner, where she dies in childbirth after charging this stranger she has come to trust with the holy task of protecting her infant daughter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
"It's one of those things where you test it and, holy cow, it works and you've discovered something new."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Call it the Mecca Accords, a joint defense agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan in the Islamic holy city on Friday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
"She was a demon. As soon as my father was out of the way she became a holy terror. My life was a nightmare."
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
No one would call him a minimalist, but his holy of holies is not to allow his productions to eclipse his performers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2025
Jerusalem was also the site of the holiest of holies of Judaism, the most sacred of spaces where the Temple of Solomon had stood until its destruction by the Romans.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
The country, he said, is facing “an attack on the holy of holies: the security of the State of Israel.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 2023
Saudi Arabia is a powerful regional player, considered a leader of the Sunni faith because of its custodianship of Islam’s holies sites and has close ties to the West.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
But at the wonder in the boy’s eyes she collected herself and asked him who he was, so young and yet seemingly so dedicated to this high service in Greece’s holy of holies.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
“When I do it, I'm trying not to be holier than thou in every way that I can. And I fail at that a fair amount.”
From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2024
Muir was devastated by its destruction, lamenting, “Dam the Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water tanks the people’s cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has been consecrated by the heart of man.”
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2024
The fact that handfuls of go-go troupes, including Junkyard Band and TOB, as well as punk heroes Fugazi have performed at Pulaski over the years only makes this holy ground that much holier.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 17, 2022
“Sometimes you want to be holier than thou, just to prove you’re not the idiot they thought you were.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 4, 2020
“If God gets even half the promises we’ve been laying down, the U.S.A. is going to be holier than the Vatican,” Monaco said.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
They are forbidden from contact with relatives and friends in Israel, and can’t visit the country, home to Judaism’s holiest sites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The remains of Iran's late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have been carried through two of Shia Islam's holiest shrines in neighbouring Iraq, as funeral ceremonies continue for a fifth day.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
The procession coincided with the annual commemoration of Imam Hussein, the mourning month of Muharram, the holiest period of the year in Shia Islam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism's holiest place.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
The holiest of temples were his to command, as well as the Sun Maidens and all other shaman priests.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
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.
