saintly
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of saintly
Explanation
If someone is saintly, they're so perfect that they're almost too good to be true. A truly saintly person spends her life helping others. Saintly people are extremely kind and virtuous, modeling themselves after actual saints, people who are canonized by the Catholic church after death and are believed to be in heaven. You can also use this adjective to describe things that have to do with saints, like a saintly painting or a saintly relic. Both saintly and saint are rooted in the Latin sanctus, "holy or consecrated."
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:
The Independent notes that he was seen as a "saintly" and "ecclesiastical" figure on Fleet Street.
From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2025
When the rapping resumes, the man goes to the window to admit “a stately Raven / of the saintly days of yore.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
This disciplined capital allocation — returning all free cash flow to shareholders via dividends and buybacks — makes it practically saintly.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
Similarly, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, the “Notorious RBG” meme ecosystem instantly expanded to include digital portraits and merchandise that cast her as a saintly defender of justice.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2025
Tom Chamberlain went on sleeping, mouth open, saintly young, at peace.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
They care about telling themselves that their profession is saintlier than it is, and they’re superior to the reformed liar who wants to work with them.
From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2014
The modern woman of the advanced type refuses to be longer regarded as a gentler and saintlier type of humanity, who must be petted, reverenced, and protected.
From The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 5 July 1906 by Various
A saintlier pastor than the Reverend Mr. Goodman, D.D., few congregations possessed; but only those members of his audience who were of like age with himself thought him a good preacher.
From Bert Lloyd's Boyhood A Story from Nova Scotia by Finnemore, Joseph
Nothing could be whiter; nothing could be purer; nothing could be saintlier of aspect.
From What Is Man? and Other Essays by Twain, Mark
He doesn't mind making people unhappy, because the more they're repressed, the saintlier they'll be.
From Saint's Progress by Galsworthy, John
Yet, before turning the relic over to the police, Brand said he was on his saintliest behavior.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 21, 2022
Moreover, in all but the saintliest circles, forgiveness may be a luxury that depends upon a certain surrounding stability.
From Time Magazine Archive
Ah, one is remembered of saintliest men To lovely Geneva who comes not again; Who left a sweet impress wherever he trod, Humanity's helper, companion of God.
From Poems Vol. IV by Howard, Hattie
Or, in the words of one of the saintliest of the mediæval mystics, 'In the chamber of the heart God works.
From The English Church in the Eighteenth Century by Abbey, Charles J. (Charles John)
Perhaps the saintliest among the Greeks declined to go to Macedonia.
From The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 1 by Baerlein, Henry
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.
