DictionaryAI

divine

di-VYN/dɪˈvaɪn/

Noun pluraldivines (some meanings)

Verbdivines, divining, divined

11 meanings of divine

Practice

  1. 1
    of a godadjective
    Of, from, or relating to a god; having the nature or qualities of a god, such as holiness.

    Ancient rulers often claimed a divine mandate to justify their authority.

    The temple was believed to hold divine power passed down from the gods.

    UsageCommon in divine intervention, divine right and divine will.

    Similarholy, sacred, godly, heavenly, celestial

    Oppositehuman, mortal, earthly

  2. 2
    delightfuladjectivecolloquial
    Extremely good, beautiful or delightful; of outstanding excellence.

    Her new dress looked divine at the evening party.

    The dessert was divine, light and bursting with flavor.

    UsageUsed for enthusiastic praise, for example of food or clothes: the cake was simply divine.

    Similarwonderful, delightful, gorgeous, heavenly, superb

    Oppositeawful, horrible, dreadful

  3. 3
    higher powernoununcountable
    God or a god, thought of as a transcendent concept.

    Philosophers have long debated whether the divine can be known through reason.

    For the mystics, union with the divine was the highest goal of life.

    UsageUsually with the: union with the divine. By contrast, a divine means a theologian or clergyman.

    Similargodhead, God

    Note

    It points to transcendent reality as a concept rather than to a particular god.

  4. 4
    figure outverbtransitive
    To sense or figure out something by means of intuition or insight.

    Good teachers can divine a student's confusion from a single glance.

    She divined the truth from the look on his face.

    UsageTakes an object or a that-clause: divine the truth, divine that something is wrong; used of feelings and secrets.

    Similarsense, guess, intuit, perceive, discern

    Note

    This verb is close kin to the verb of foretelling, but it is aimed at what is hidden now rather than at what is coming. It takes a plain object, as when Somerset Maugham's character in The Moon and Sixpence (1919) "never allowed a soul to divine his anguish."

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Somerset Maugham wrote The Moon and Sixpence, first published in 1919. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in the novel, describing Strickland; it is narration, not his spoken dialogue. gutenberg.org
  5. 5
    theologiannouncountable
    A member of the clergy or a person learned in theology, especially in earlier centuries.

    The seventeenth-century divine produced a famous commentary on scripture.

    Leading divines of the age argued over the nature of grace.

    Similartheologian, cleric, clergyman, churchman

    Note

    The noun names a scholar of doctrine or a clergyman, and in earlier centuries one person was often both. John Denham could write in 1668 that "Poets were the first divines," a line that only works if the word means a thinker about sacred things.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The noun can mean a theologian or clergyman. en.wiktionary.org
    • The roles of theologian and clergyman often overlapped historically. en.wikipedia.org
    • Denham's The Progress of Learning was first published in 1668. celm.folger.edu
    • Denham wrote the quoted words, using divines for people who taught about sacred matters. gutenberg.org

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–3, 5, 7, 10–11

Latin divus ("god") gave dīvīnus ("of a god"), which became Old French divin. The word pushed out godcund, the native Old English term.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Meanings 4, 6, 8–9

Latin dīvīnō led to Middle French deviner and then to Middle English devine or devin, which this sense later replaced.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts