holy of holies

American  

noun

1. a place of special sacredness.

2. the innermost chamber of the Biblical tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem, in which the ark of the covenant was kept.

3. Eastern Church. the bema.

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holy of holies British  

noun

1. any place of special sanctity

2. (capitals) the innermost compartment of the Jewish tabernacle, and later of the Temple, where the Ark was enshrined

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holy of holies Idioms  

1. A place of awe or sacredness, as in The corporate board room is the holy of holies here. This expression is a translation of the Hebrew term for the sanctuary inside the tabernacle of the Temple of Jerusalem, where the sacred Ark of the Covenant was kept (Exodus 26:34). Its figurative use dates from the second half of the 1800s.

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Etymology

Origin of holy of holies

1350–1400; Middle English, translation of Late Latin sanctum sanctōrum (Vulgate), translation of Greek tò hágion tôn hagíōn, itself translation of Hebrew qōdesh haqqodāshīm

Example Sentences

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

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

Traditionally, most Orthodox Jews avoided the mount itself for fear of treading on the spot where the temples’ holy of holies once stood.

From New York Times • Jul. 19, 2021

My holy of holies is the human body —Anton Chekhov, May, 1888 Carnality sits at the root of the show-don’t-tell edict that every writing teacher harps on all the time, because it works.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 11, 2015

But then they entered Elinor’s holy of holies.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke