English

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Etymology

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From Middle English sacrament, from Old French sacrement, from Ecclesiastical Latin sacrāmentum (sacrament), from Latin sacrō (hallow, consecrate), from sacer (sacred, holy), originally sum deposited by parties to a suit.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sacrament (plural sacraments)

  1. (Christianity) A sacred act and the attendant ceremony, considered (theology) an outward sign of divine grace.
    Coordinate term: ordinance
    • 1989 February 10, Stephen Fry et al., “Christening”, in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, season 1, episode 5:
      Priest: I'm sorry, it's Duncan Dirk Dick. I've just done it. / Father: Well, undo it. / Priest: Undo it? / Father: Yes. / Priest: This is a holy sacrament of the Church, not a bleeding hotel reservation. You can't just undo it.
  2. (in particular) The Eucharist.
  3. The consecrated Eucharist (especially the bread).
  4. (by extension) A thing which is regarded as possessing a sacred character or mysterious significance.
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXVIII Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, [].] Sermon IX. The Faith and Patience of the Saints: Or The Righteous Cause Oppressed.”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. [], 2nd edition, London: [] Richard Royston [], published 1654, →OCLC, page 105:
      God ſometimes ſent a light of fire, and pillar of a cloud, and the brightneſſe of an Angel, and the luſtre of a ſtar, and the ſacrament of a rainbovve to guide his people thorovv their portion of ſorrovvs, and to lead them through troubles to reſt: []
    • 2022 May 30, Rebecca Solnit, “US mass shootings will continue until the majority can overrule the minority”, in The Guardian[1]:
      The dots are easy to connect, because they’re so close together, and because they’re the entry and exit wounds inflicted on US society by the subculture whose sacrament is the gun.
  5. (Ancient Rome) The oath of allegiance taken by soldiers in Ancient Rome; hence, any sacred ceremony used to impress an obligation; a solemn oath-taking; an oath.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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sacrament (third-person singular simple present sacraments, present participle sacramenting, simple past and past participle sacramented)

  1. (transitive) To bind by an oath.

See also

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Dutch

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology

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From Old French sacrament, from Ecclesiastical Latin sacrāmentum (sacrament), from Latin sacrō (hallow, consecrate), from sacer (sacred, holy), originally sum deposited by parties to a suit.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌsaː.kraːˈmɛnt/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: sa‧cra‧ment
  • Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

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sacrament n (plural sacramenten)

  1. (Christianity) sacrament

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Negerhollands: sacrament
  • Indonesian: sakramen

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French sacrement, from Latin sacramentum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sacrament n (plural sacramente)

  1. sacrament

Declension

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Further reading

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