HOLY (holier, holiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: holier    , holiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does holy mean? 

• HOLY (noun)
  The noun HOLY has 1 sense:

1. a sacred place of pilgrimage

  Familiarity information: HOLY used as a noun is very rare.

• HOLY (adjective)
  The adjective HOLY has 1 sense:

1. belonging to or derived from or associated with a divine power

  Familiarity information: HOLY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOLY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sacred place of pilgrimage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

holy; holy place; sanctum

Hypernyms ("holy" is a kind of...):

place; spot; topographic point (a point located with respect to surface features of some region)

• HOLY (adjective)

Comparative: holier   
Superlative: holiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Belonging to or derived from or associated with a divine power

Similar:

beatified; blessed (Roman Catholic; proclaimed one of the blessed and thus worthy of veneration)

Blessed (worthy of worship)

consecrated; sacred; sanctified (made or declared or believed to be holy; devoted to a deity or some religious ceremony or use)

hallowed; sacred (worthy of religious veneration)

Also:

consecrate; consecrated; dedicated (solemnly dedicated to or set apart for a high or sacred purpose)

sacred (concerned with religion or religious purposes)

Attribute:

holiness; sanctitude; sanctity (the quality of being holy)

Antonym:

unholy (not hallowed or consecrated)

Derivation:

holiness (the quality of being holy)

 Context examples 

You have sent for me, holy father?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Holy thistle may have anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects.

(Holy thistle, NCI Dictionary)

Extracted from the plant called yerba santa (holy herb), herbal polysaccharide saliva substitute contains plant mucins, which is nearly identical to that of human mucous membranes.

(Herbal Polysaccharide Saliva Substitute, NCI Thesaurus)

His lover's imagination had made her holy, too holy, too spiritualized, to have any kinship with him in the flesh.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

We must sterilise this earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far distant land for such fell use.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He had committed what was to him sacrilege, sunk his fangs into the holy flesh of a god, and of a white-skinned superior god at that.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Also called cardin, holy thistle, spotted thistle, and St. Benedict's thistle.

(Blessed thistle, NCI Dictionary)

Also called blessed thistle, holy thistle, spotted thistle, and St. Benedict's thistle.

(Cardin, NCI Dictionary)

It has long been believed that Earth has a solid iron core but no proof has ever been found and it has been heralded as the 'holy grail' of global seismology.

(Earth's Core Confirmed to Be Solid After 80 Years of Study, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Whether those holy lords I spoke of were always promoted to that rank upon account of their knowledge in religious matters, and the sanctity of their lives; had never been compliers with the times, while they were common priests; or slavish prostitute chaplains to some nobleman, whose opinions they continued servilely to follow, after they were admitted into that assembly?

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)