sanctity

English

Etymology

From Middle English sanctity, from Old French sanctete, from Latin sānctitās.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsæŋktɪti/
• Hyphenation: sanc‧ti‧ty

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

sanctity (countable and uncountable, plural sanctities)

1. (uncountable) Holiness of life or disposition; saintliness
2. (uncountable) The condition of being considered sacred; inviolability
3. (countable) Something considered sacred.
   • 1776, Jeremy Bentham, “A Short Review of the Declaration”, in John Lind, An Anſwer to the Declaration of the American Congress‎^[1], London: Thomas Cadell, page 121:

     Or would they have it believed, that there is in their ſelves ſome ſuperior ſanctity, ſome peculiar privilege, by which theſe things are lawful to them, which are unlawful to all the world beſides?

   • 2024 January 21, Our Narrative… Operation Al-Aqsa Flood‎^[2], Hamas Media Office, page 16:

     […] allowed the Israeli occupation over 75 years to commit the worst crimes ever against the Palestinian people, land and sanctities.

Derived terms

• odor of sanctity, odour of sanctity

Translations

holiness — see holiness

condition

• Bulgarian: святост f (svjatost)
• Greek: ιερότητα (el) f (ierótita)
• Indonesian: kesakralan (id)
• Latin: sanctitās f
• Maori: rongomaiwhiti
• Russian: свя́тость (ru) f (svjátostʹ), свяще́нность (ru) f (svjaščénnostʹ)
• Spanish: santidad (es) f

something considered sacred

• Bulgarian: светиня (bg) f (svetinja)
• Persian: مقدس (fa) (moqaddas)
• Russian: святы́ня (ru) f (svjatýnja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: светиња f

  Roman: svetinja (sh) f

Anagrams

• cystatin, scantity