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saint

SAYNT/seɪnt/SUHNT/sən(t)/

Pluralsaints

Verbsaints, sainting, sainted

8 meanings of saint

Practice

  1. 1
    honored holy personnouncountable
    A very holy person honored by a church or religion, or anyone believed to be with God in heaven.

    Like a hero a church officially honors for living a very good life.

    The church declared her a saint many years after she died.

    Children learn stories about each saint on their feast day.

    UsageA church can make someone a saint.

    Note
  2. 2
    place nameprefixmorpheme
    Put before a name to make a place name, without meaning the place is holy.

    They drove through Saint Louis on their way west.

    The map showed a small town called Saint Helens.

    UsageWrite it with a capital letter. It is often shortened to St.

    Note
  3. 3
    nounfigurativelycountable
    A very kind, good person who always helps others and rarely seems to do anything wrong.

    Like calling someone an angel because they are so kind.

    My grandmother was a saint who looked after everyone in the family.

    You'd have to be a saint to stay calm with those noisy kids all day.

    UsageSay you're a saint! to thank someone for a favor.

    Similarangel, gem, treasure, paragon

    Oppositedevil, sinner

    Note
  4. 4
    believernouncountable
    A Christian who is still alive and truly believes in and follows God.

    Paul wrote his letter to every saint in the city.

    In the Bible, Paul often calls ordinary believers saints.

    Similarbeliever, Christian

    Oppositeunbeliever

    Note
  5. 5
    Mormonnouncountable
    A member of the Latter-day Saint church, often called a Mormon. It is usually capitalized, as Saint.

    The Mormon pioneers called themselves saints as they traveled west.

    The early saints walked a long way west to Utah.

    Note
  6. 6
    verbtransitive
    To officially make someone a saint, or to treat a person as one.

    Many people hope their kind old bishop will be sainted someday.

    Some writers saint their heroes by praising everything they did.

    UsageCanonize is the usual formal word.

    Similarcanonize

    Oppositedemonize

    Note

Less common meanings

  1. 7
    nounarchaic
    A holy object that people respect and treat as sacred.
    It is ruine to a man to deuoure ſaintes, and afterward to retracte the vowes.
    1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, Douay–Rheims BibleHere, saintes means holy objects treated as sacred.
    Note
  2. 8
    noun
    A title with a capital S that goes before a saint's name, often written as St.

    Our school is named after Saint Anne.

    My grandmother keeps a small picture of Saint Francis in her kitchen.

    UsageUse a capital letter before a name (Saint Peter), but a small letter in Peter is a saint.

    Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1, 3–5, 7–8

It comes from Latin "sanctus" meaning "holy," which later became a word for a holy person, a saint.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

Meaning 6

This verb comes from Middle English. Part of it comes from the noun "saint," and part comes from the Anglo-Norman word "saintir."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Meaning 2

It comes from the habit of naming parishes and places after Christian saints.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  • The place-name use reflects the practice of naming parishes after Christian saints. en.wiktionary.org
  • Other places are also named after Christian saints. en.wiktionary.org