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
I was walking with a guard—behind and a little to the right of her so my feet would not touch the sacrosanct mat—down a corridor I had not seen before.
From Literature
The comment is a jolt of realism for German elites, who, more than 80 years after World War II, generally treat international law as sacrosanct.
“The former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order,” the judge writes.
Students in writing workshops are loath to honestly criticize each other’s work, especially if the writer belongs to a sacrosanct group.
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.
