sanctify
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate.
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to purify or free from sin.
Sanctify your hearts.
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to impart religious sanction to; render legitimate or binding.
to sanctify a vow.
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to entitle to reverence or respect.
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to make productive of or conducive to spiritual blessing.
verb
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to make holy
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to free from sin; purify
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to sanction (an action or practice) as religiously binding
to sanctify a marriage
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to declare or render (something) productive of or conductive to holiness, blessing, or grace
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obsolete to authorize to be revered
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonsanctificationnoun
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sanctifiablenessnoun
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sanctificationnoun
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sanctifiernoun
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self-sanctificationnoun
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presanctifyverb (used with object)
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sanctifiableadjective
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unsanctifyingadjective
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sanctifiablyadverb
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sanctifyinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sanctifysimple
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sanctifiessimple
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have sanctifiedperfect
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has sanctifiedperfect
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am sanctifyingprogressive
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are sanctifyingprogressive
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is sanctifyingprogressive
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have been sanctifyingperfect progressive
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has been sanctifyingperfect progressive
Past
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sanctifiedsimple
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had sanctifiedperfect
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was sanctifyingprogressive
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were sanctifyingprogressive
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had been sanctifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sanctify
1350–1400; < Late Latin sānctificāre ( see Sanctus, -ify); replacing Middle English seintefien < Old French saintifier < Latin, as above
Explanation
To sanctify something is to make it pure or holy. You might see a priest sanctify a church in your neighborhood — that means it’s holy. Sanctify often has a religious connotation. If you get married, you might have a religious ceremony to sanctify your union. That means the marriage is viewed as legitimate according to your religion. Sanctify can also mean that something is made free from sin, like when the Pope sanctifies a person. Or you can use it for anything that’s made right or acceptable. Your mom’s support may sanctify the odd outfit you wore to the family reunion. Thanks, Mom!
Vocabulary lists containing sanctify
Power Suffix: -fy
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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:
It is that the law will sanctify it.
From Slate ● Jul. 3, 2025
These shrines laden with incense, flowers and other offerings sanctify its gardens, waters and the surrounding landscape, and they highlight the psychic malaise dominating most of its visitors.
From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2025
Her connection to her mother remains frayed while she continues to sanctify Minh.
From New York Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
Enshrined, meaning to cherish, revere, exalt, consecrate and sanctify, is a word of dignity and respect now side-by-side with same-sex marriages and families, and interracial families.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2022
And legend and theology, which are designed to sanctify our fears, crimes, and aspirations, also reveal them for what they are.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
He said he was "glad that Israel will participate again in Eurovision and I hope that the competition will remain one that sanctifies culture, poetry, and friendship between peoples and cross-border cultural understanding".
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2025
Primo Levi himself said: “It is naïve, absurd, and historically false to believe that an infernal system such as National Socialism sanctifies its victims: on the contrary it degrades them, it makes them resemble itself.”
From Slate ● Nov. 29, 2022
In that 2003 book, he wrote that the Hebrew term “amidah,” or steadfastness, is used for resistance that preserves and sanctifies life.
From New York Times ● Aug. 25, 2021
That movie sanctifies ignorance, whereas Heller’s, equally gentle, explores not simplemindedness so much as simplicity, a rarer gift.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 15, 2019
It signifies wealth, evokes the closeness of family, and sanctifies a proper meal.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
No one should ever be above skepticism no matter how sanctified and righteous they may seem — that’s why the New York Times investigation crashed into the Chicano collective sense of self like a meteor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2026
Not Section 60, where the atmosphere is sanctified but not somber—too many kids, Meredith recalled from her visits to her son’s burial site.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2024
“Here, communication between man and God takes place,” said Lyngdoh, a descendant of the priestly clan which sanctified the Mawphlang forest.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
The most extravagant was the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, a coterie of colleagues and admirers with whom he gave critically sanctified summer performances from 2003 until just before his death.
From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2023
If we could only juxtapose one eyeball of this sanctified woman and a television tube, both being roughly of the same shape and design, what a phantasmagoria of exploding electrodes would occur.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
As I take steps in teaching, sanctifying and leading, I hope to listen more than I speak and to learn from the people entrusted to my care.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
Given that prescriptive outlook, the NASA-commissioned Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study is raising a “we’re from the government, and we’re here to help” flag while sanctifying a scientific look at aerial weirdness.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 9, 2023
One prayer was read in memory of the “Kedoshim of Pittsburgh, murdered al kiddush Hashem” — holy martyrs, killed while sanctifying God’s name.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2023
“Anne’s final gift to us was dying in the state of sanctifying grace. We know we will one day be reunited with her in God’s kingdom.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 31, 2022
“They poop moonbeams, dimes and quarters, and sanctifying grace.”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
