# sacred

Pronunciation: say "SAY-krid" /ˈseɪkɹɪd/

## Adjective

1. Holy; set apart for or dedicated to a god or religious purpose (often 'sacred to' a particular deity), and therefore deserving deep reverence.
   - Simple: Holy. Connected with or given to God, a god, or religion, and so treated with deep respect.
   - _Ancient rulers presented their authority as sacred, demanding reverence from every subject._
   - _The temple on the hill is sacred to the goddess of the harvest._
2. Relating to religion or the spiritual, as opposed to secular or material matters.
   - Simple: To do with religion or the spirit, not with ordinary worldly things.
   - _Scholars distinguish sacred literature from the secular poetry of the same period._
   - _The composer wrote both sacred works for the church and operas for the stage._
3. Too important to be violated or treated with disrespect; inviolable.
   - Simple: So important or special that it must never be harmed or broken.
   - _In their tradition, a guest's safety is sacred and may never be betrayed._
   - _The treaty treated the border as sacred, not to be crossed by either army._

## Adjective

4. Solemnly given over to evil, vengeance, or a curse; accursed and baleful. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Cursed or doomed, and promised over to evil or punishment.

## Origin

From Middle English sacred (also isacred), the past participle of sacren or sakeren, meaning 'to make holy' or 'hallow', formed from sacre plus the ending -ed.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sacred (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).