holy
Americanadjective
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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.
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saintly; godly; pious; devout.
a holy life.
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having a spiritually pure quality.
a holy love.
- Synonyms:
- spiritual
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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
adjective
-
of, relating to, or associated with God or a deity; sacred
-
endowed or invested with extreme purity or sublimity
-
devout, godly, or virtuous
-
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:
And yet fans suspend their cynicism for a few hours — for a tournament, for a season — because they know that the communion that soccer offers is pure and holy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Announced last week in a post on Instagram, the drink was described as a “clarified tonic” with coconut water, jasmine tea, raw honey, holy basil, anise hyssop, green cardamom, white grape juice and coconut milk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Engagement, which measures how long people spend watching content and how frequently they finish a movie or series, is the holy grail in modern Hollywood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
A recent attempt by the government in India's northern state of Punjab to introduce a tougher law punishing sacrilege against the Sikh holy scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, has triggered a controversy.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Thank Saint Christopher, protector of travelers, guardian against storms, holy death, and toothaches.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
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
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
For a great number of Texans, the Alamo is the holiest of holies, a place, a totem, a shrine that physically embodies the values — courage, independence, liberty — they hold precious.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2021
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
“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
“These are women who have traversed many things and are not holier than thou and are very, very loud,” she said.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 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
"Every time we say, 'Well, I believe in the science,' I think we come off holier than thou," said Suzanne Shelton, CEO of the Shelton Group.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2021
“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
"The war in Iran has affected the entire world. Nobody wants wars or harm to countries and peoples," he told AFP news agency as he left Mecca's Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest site.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
Control of Islam’s holiest sites generates prestige and revenue, but it also carries an obligation to keep them safe and accessible for all Muslims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism's holiest place.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
Many Christian leaders, to be fair, were also outraged that the president would stoop so low on the holiest day of the Christian year.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
“Because it’s the holiest place in all of Fjerda and not essential to our mission.”
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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.
