holy
UK /ˈhəʊli/ · US /ˈhoʊli/ adjective, interjection, noun
Forms holier holiest holies holie hooly 'oly
- adjective Dedicated to a religious purpose or a god. “I'm planning to visit the holy city of Jerusalem this Christmas.”
- adjective Revered in a religion. “This tree is considered holy in my culture.”
- adjective Morally perfect or flawless, or nearly so. “My grandmother is a very holy woman.”
- adjective Separated or set apart from (something unto something or someone else).
- adjective Set apart or dedicated for a specific purpose, or for use by a single entity or person.
- adjective (slang) Used as an intensifier in various interjections. “Holy cow, I can’t believe he actually lost the race!”
- interjection (slang) An expression of astonishment and awe.
- noun (archaic) A thing that is extremely holy; used almost exclusively in Holy of Holies.
Synonyms
sacred godly faultless flawless perfect consecrated hallowed sanctified divined sacrate reserved special blessed cursed infernal 4ucking accursed bally blasted bleeding holy place sanctum
Antonyms
profane secular unholy worldly damaged defective faulty flawed imperfect common unhallowed
Etymology
From Middle English ali, aly, hale, halege, hali, halȝe, hayly, holi, holia, holie, holiȝ, holy, hooly, oli, oly, wholy, woly, from Old English hāleġ, hāliġ (“holy, sacred; healthy, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *hailag, from Proto-Germanic *hailagaz (“holy, sacred”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“healthy; whole”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“intact, whole; complete; hale, healthy, sound”), equivalent to whole + -y and a doublet of later wholly.
Cognate with Scots halie, haly (“holy”), Yola holly, holy (“holy”), Saterland Frisian helig (“holy”), Alemannic German, Dutch, and German heilig (“holy, sacred”), Cimbrian hòolig (“holy”), Luxembourgish helleg (“holy”), Vilamovian haeliḱ, haliky, hȧlikjy, hǡliḱ (“holy”), Yiddish הייליק (heylik, “holy”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hellig (“holy”), Faroese heilagur (“holy”), Icelandic heilagur, helgur (“holy”), Norwegian Nynorsk heilag, heilag’u (“holy”), Swedish helig (“holy”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌲𐍃 (hailags, “holy”); also Latin cael, caelus, caelum, coelus, coelum (“heaven; sky; climate, weather”), Belarusian цэ́лы (cély, “entire, whole”), Bulgarian цял (cjal, “entire, full, intact, whole; real, regular, veritable”), Czech and Slovak celý (“whole”), Macedonian цел (cel, “entire, whole”), Polish cały (“entire, whole”), Russian це́лый (célyj, “entire, whole”), Serbo-Croatian це̏о, ци̏јел, ци̏о, cȅo, cȉjel, cȉo (“entire, whole”), Slovene cel (“whole”), Ukrainian ці́лий (cílyj, “entire, whole”). More at whole.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood.
- adjective Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God.
Etymology [OE. holi, hali, AS.halig, fr. hæl health, salvation, happiness, fr. hal whole, well; akin to OS. h, D. & G.heilig, OHG. heilac, Dan. hellig, Sw. helig, Icel. heilagr. See Whole, and cf. Halibut, Halidom, Hallow, Hollyhock.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “holy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details