Sacred Meaning
/ˈseɪkɹɪd/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjCharacterized by solemn religious ceremony or religious use, especially, in a positive sense; consecrated, made holy.
adjReligious; relating to religion, or to the services of religion; not secular
Sentence Examples
Cows are sacred to Hindus.
If anything is sacred the human body is sacred.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ancient temple was considered ____ by the local worshippers because it housed a holy relic.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The temple was considered ____ ground and visitors were required to remove their shoes.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English sacred, isacred, past participle of sacren, sakeren (“to make holy, hallow”), equivalent to sacre + -ed.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea."
— 1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 55:
"In doing this I particularly instructed my informant to tell his tale as if he were relating it to his own people, and to use the same words that he would use if he were recounting similar tales to them when assembled in a sacred house."
— 1882, Edward Shortland, Maori Religion and Mythology:
"The cross is that high symbol of sacred service, the devotion of one's life to the welfare and salvation of one's fellows. The cross is not the symbol of the sacrifice of the innocent Son of God in the place of guilty sinners and in order to appease the wrath of an offended God, but it does stand forever, on earth and throughout a vast universe, as a sacred symbol of the good bestowing themselves upon the evil and thereby saving them by this very devotion of love."
— 1955, anonymous author, The Urantia Book: The Time of the Tomb:
"The sacred is the emotional force which connects the part to the whole; the profane or the secular is that which has been broken off from, or has fallen off, its emotional bond to the universe."
— 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 102:
"Smit with the love of sacred song."
— 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ancient temple was considered ____ by the local worshippers because it housed a holy relic.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The temple was considered ____ ground and visitors were required to remove their shoes.