saintly
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- hypersaintly adjective
- quasi-saintly adjective
- saintlily adverb
- saintliness noun
- supersaintly adjective
- unsaintly adjective
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.
“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
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
That is a category reserved for martyrs, those deemed to have lived a life of heroic values and candidates who the Church declares to have a saintly reputation.
From BBC • Apr. 15, 2025
Nailer waited, hoping for some mention of the saintly Captain Sung.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
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.
