sacrosanct
Americanadjective
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extremely sacred or inviolable.
a sacrosanct chamber in the temple.
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not to be entered or trespassed upon.
She considered her home office sacrosanct.
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above or beyond criticism, change, or interference.
a manuscript deemed sacrosanct.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- sacrosanctity noun
- sacrosanctness noun
Etymology
Origin of sacrosanct
First recorded in 1595–1605, sacrosanct is from Latin sacrō sānctus “made holy by sacred rite.” See sacred, saint
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.
Bidding to succeed his former mentor in 1995, Jospin shocked many Socialists by claiming a "right of inventory" over Mitterrand's legacy -- a right to reassess a record that loyalists deemed sacrosanct.
From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026
Cannon asserted that doing so here would violate “the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order,” but that is nonsense.
From Slate • Feb. 26, 2026
In other words, it may be feared that property rights, in America, are no longer sacrosanct.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 23, 2026
One lawyer said she even got messages from clients on Thanksgiving—a 24-hour window that in past years has typically been sacrosanct, even on Wall Street.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 31, 2025
He answered in a whisper too, as if his writing had become something hallowed and had made the room itself sacrosanct.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
