sacred
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
connected to a god or a religion and treated with great respect.
consecrated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; considered holy.
Simple“The monks consider the mountain to be sacred and visit it every year to pray.”
In context“The temple was built on sacred ground, and visitors are required to remove their shoes before entering the inner sanctum.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
too important to be changed, ignored, or treated badly.
regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with; inviolable.
Simple“In many families, the time spent eating dinner together is sacred.”
In context“The right to free speech is seen as a sacred principle of their democracy, one that the government is sworn to protect at all costs.”
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
relating to religious music or art rather than popular or secular styles.
relating to religious rites or symbols; specifically used to categorise music, art, or literature intended for worship.
Simple“The choir performed a beautiful piece of sacred music during the ceremony.”
In context“The university's music department offers a specialised course in the history of sacred choral works from the Renaissance period.”
SynonymsAntonyms
“They reveal that India was imagined as a sacred land in different ways.”
“The agreement established the Great Sioux Reservation , giving the tribes authority over the western half of what is now South Dakota, including much of the Black Hills region, considered sacred by the Sioux.”
From Middle English sacred, isacred, past participle of sacren, sakeren (“to make holy, hallow”), equivalent to sacre + -ed.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.