God
- the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe.
- the Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute: the God of Islam.
- (lowercase) one of several deities, especially a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldly affairs.
- (often lowercase) a supreme being according to some particular conception: the god of mercy.
- Christian Science. the Supreme Being, understood as Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle.
- (lowercase) an image of a deity; an idol.
- (lowercase) any deified person or object.
- (often lowercase) Gods, Theater.
- the upper balcony in a theater.
- the spectators in this part of the balcony.
- to regard or treat as a god; deify; idolize.
- (used to express disappointment, disbelief, weariness, frustration, annoyance, or the like): God, do we have to listen to this nonsense?
Origin of God
Examples from the Web for semi-god
Historical Examples
What a change had come over the brilliant hero—the semi-god!
The Green BookMr Jkai
He becomes a general mis-creator, who believes he is a semi-God.
The "Genius"Theodore Dreiser
god
- a supernatural being, who is worshipped as the controller of some part of the universe or some aspect of life in the world or is the personification of some forceRelated adjective: divine
- an image, idol, or symbolic representation of such a deity
- any person or thing to which excessive attention is givenmoney was his god
- a man who has qualities regarded as making him superior to other men
- (in plural) the gallery of a theatre
Word Origin
God
- theol the sole Supreme Being, eternal, spiritual, and transcendent, who is the Creator and ruler of all and is infinite in all attributes; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
- play God to behave in an imperious or superior manner
- an oath or exclamation used to indicate surprise, annoyance, etc (and in such expressions as My God! or God Almighty!)
Word Origin and History for semi-god
god
n.
Old English god "supreme being, deity; the Christian God; image of a god; godlike person," from Proto-Germanic *guthan (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch god, Old High German got, German Gott, Old Norse guð, Gothic guþ), from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (cf. Old Church Slavonic zovo "to call," Sanskrit huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke."
But some trace it to PIE *ghu-to- "poured," from root *gheu- "to pour, pour a libation" (source of Greek khein "to pour," also in the phrase khute gaia "poured earth," referring to a burial mound; see found (v.2)). "Given the Greek facts, the Germanic form may have referred in the first instance to the spirit immanent in a burial mound" [Watkins]. Cf. also Zeus.
Not related to good. Originally a neuter noun in Germanic, the gender shifted to masculine after the coming of Christianity. Old English god probably was closer in sense to Latin numen. A better word to translate deus might have been Proto-Germanic *ansuz, but this was used only of the highest deities in the Germanic religion, and not of foreign gods, and it was never used of the Christian God. It survives in English mainly in the personal names beginning in Os-.
I want my lawyer, my tailor, my servants, even my wife to believe in God, because it means that I shall be cheated and robbed and cuckolded less often. ... If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. [Voltaire]
God bless you after someone sneezes is credited to St. Gregory the Great, but the pagan Romans (Absit omen) and Greeks had similar customs.
Idioms and Phrases with semi-god
God
In addition to the idioms beginning with god
- God forbid
- God knows
also see:
- act of god
- for god's sake
- honest to god
- lap of the gods
- mills of gods grind slowly
- my god
- put the fear of god in
- so help me (god)
- thank god
- there but for the grace of god
- tin god