Sanctify
verb ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 To make holy; to consecrate; to set aside for sacred or ceremonial use. transitive
"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
- 2 make pure or free from sin or guilt wordnet
- 3 To free from sin; to purify. transitive
"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
- 4 give religious sanction to, such as through an oath wordnet
- 5 To make acceptable or useful under religious law or practice. transitive
"For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 render holy by means of religious rites wordnet
- 7 To endorse with religious sanction. transitive
Example
More examples"The Yule Log has from time immemorial been haled to the open fire-place on Christmas Eve, and lighted with the embers of its predecessor to sanctify the roof-tree and protect it against those evil spirits over whom the season is in everyway a triumph."
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman seintefier, from Old French saintefier, from Late Latin sānctificō, from Latin sānctus (“holy”) + faciō (“do, make”). Form altered to conform with Latin.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.