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holy

adjective

Simple meaning

Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

hohlee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhoʊli

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god.

  2. Set apart or dedicated for a specific purpose, or for use by a single entity or person.

  3. Morally perfect or flawless, or nearly so.

  4. Revered in a religion.

  5. Alternative letter-case form of holy used when referring to an important figure, such as God, or to an important item or event.

  6. Separated or set apart from (something unto something or someone else).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god.

Used this way, holy is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Religion/spirituality
  • Historical writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use holy

  • “The ancient text is considered a holy book by many people.”adjective

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • sacred

    Concerned with religion or religious purposes.

  • consecrated

    Solemnly dedicated to or set apart for a high or sacred purpose.

  • blessed

    Alternative letter-case form of blessed used when referring to an important figure, such as God, or to an important….

  • sanctified

    Made holy; set aside for sacred or ceremonial use.

  • hallowed

    Consecrated or sanctified.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • holy citynounCompound term

    Phrases used to refer to Heaven.

  • holy clovernounCompound term

    Eurasian perennial herb having pale pink flowers and curved pods.

  • holy communionnounCompound term

    The act of participating in the celebration of the Eucharist.

  • holy daynounCompound term

    A day specified for religious observance.

  • holy day of obligationnounCompound term

    A day when Catholics must attend Mass and refrain from servile work, and Episcopalians must take Communion.

  • holy eucharistnounCompound term

    A Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper by consecrating bread and wine.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: dedicated to a religious purpose or a god

consecratedsacred

Antonyms

Sense: dedicated to a religious purpose or a god

unholy

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.