holy
Americanadjective
-
holier,
comparative
-
holiest
superlative
-
specially recognized as or declared sacred by religious use or authority; consecrated.
holy ground.
- Synonyms:
- blessed
-
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.
-
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:
One showed a trail of lights linking the holy Muslim sites of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem accompanied by a nationalist, 19th-century Arabic poem by Egyptian poet Mahmoud Sami al-Baroudi:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Jonathan Hurst, chief scientist at Agility, told MarketWatch that it could take one or two decades to make humanoids safe enough for use in households, which experts call the industry’s holy grail.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
For the faithful entering Christ Our Savior Catholic Parish in Santa Ana, the statue of Saint John the Baptist placing holy water on the head of Jesus represented a core tenant of Christianity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Throughout his time, Hibs had a ruinous capacity to concede late goals that checked momentum and made the search for the holy grail of consistency all the harder.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
I remember Amma and Bedi Ma'am saying something about holy books.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
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
But the holiest of holies were the works of Judy Blume, who taught us that people with seemingly enviable lives had problems of their own.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2023
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 holy of holies makes a return to Broadway, this time in the person of Sean Hayes.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2016
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
“Rich people can get a private beach and others can’t…I don’t pretend to be holier than anybody, I just do have these feelings.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
“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
“Our goal is that each one of us goes and returns a different person, a better person, a kinder person, a holier person as a result of this pilgrimage,” Mr. Bohli said.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
It’s easy for strangers to be holier than thou if they haven’t tried to solve the problem themselves.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2023
“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
Medina, the burial place of the Prophet Mohammed and home to the Prophet's Mosque, is one of Islam's holiest cities alongside Mecca.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
The attack happened on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, which falls in September this year.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recognition by Saudi Arabia, a regional power and home to Islam's holiest sites, would mark a "historic leap" forward for peace in the Middle East.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Khamenei was laid to rest at the shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's holiest Shia Muslim site, marking the end of six days of public mourning ceremonies in five cities across Iran and neighbouring Iraq.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
The holiest pilgrimage of all was to Palestine, now Israel, where Jesus Christ lived and died.
From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz
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.
