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:
Everyone at Celtic is reluctant to compare any mere mortal to Henrik Larsson, a saintly figure of the club's past.
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
With saintly calm, the too-good-for-him Dr. Barrett packs her things and returns to her peaceful castle.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
“The way her hijab haloed Nour’s head” gives her a saintly presence, “or so Jimmy thought.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Or as close to saintly as anything involving tar sands can get.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
"What do you know, honest Josie-Jo on the Supreme Court. She was a smart kid, too, but she never once beat me at chess. Tell me about the others, Turtle. How's poor, saintly Crow?"
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
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
Is my soul a saintlier thing than it was a year ago?
From The Warfare of the Soul Practical Studies in the Life of Temptation by Hughson, Shirley C.
Or higher, holier, saintlier when, as now, All nature sacerdotal seems, and thou.
From Poems by Thompson, Francis
Rather, the better and saintlier that they are, the keener do they feel their fallings off from it.
From Gloria Crucis addresses delivered in Lichfield Cathedral Holy Week and Good Friday, 1907 by Beibitz, J. H. (Joseph Hugh)
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
As abbess, she enjoyed the friendship and respect of some of the saintliest and greatest characters of the age, even of such a man as Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny.
From Beacon Lights of History, Volume 07 Great Women by Lord, John
The saintliest of men have ever felt and spoken most strongly of their own sinfulness.
From Sermons by Lightfoot, J. B.
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.
