SANCTIFY (sanctified)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: sanctified   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sanctify mean? 

• SANCTIFY (verb)
  The verb SANCTIFY has 2 senses:

1. render holy by means of religious rites

2. make pure or free from sin or guilt

  Familiarity information: SANCTIFY used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SANCTIFY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sanctify    ... he / she / it sanctifies   
Past simple: sanctified   
Past participle: sanctified   
-ing form: sanctifying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Render holy by means of religious rites

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bless; consecrate; hallow; sanctify

Hypernyms (to "sanctify" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sanctify"):

reconsecrate (consecrate anew, as after a desecration)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

saint (person of exceptional holiness)

saint (a person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization)

sanctification (a religious ceremony in which something is made holy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make pure or free from sin or guilt

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

purge; purify; sanctify

Context example:

he left the monastery purified

Hypernyms (to "sanctify" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sanctify"):

spiritualise; spiritualize (purify from the corrupting influences of the world)

lustrate (purify by means of a ritual; also used in post-Communist countries to refer to the political cleansing of former officials)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

saint (model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal)

saint (person of exceptional holiness)

sanctification (a religious ceremony in which something is made holy)

 Context examples 

It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to God.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

To attain this end, are you justified in overleaping an obstacle of custom—a mere conventional impediment which neither your conscience sanctifies nor your judgment approves?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

My dear friend Copperfield, said Mr. Micawber, accidents will occur in the best-regulated families; and in families not regulated by that pervading influence which sanctifies while it enhances the—a—I would say, in short, by the influence of Woman, in the lofty character of Wife, they may be expected with confidence, and must be borne with philosophy.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Many of the bowmen had drawn amulets and relics from their bosoms, while he who possessed some more than usually sanctified treasure passed it down the line of his comrades, that all might kiss and reap the virtue.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There is much to be done, and other places to be made sanctify, so that that nest of vipers be obliterated.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)