holy – English adjective declension

Adjective: holy

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Comparative	holier
Superlative	holiest

Perifrastic

Sample Sentences

I'm planning to visit the holy city of Jerusalem this Christmas.
... where he and Basil read together poems and philosophies, and holier things, or talked low and misopogonistcally of their fellow-student Julian’s bearded boding smile were his happiest days. [1877, E.B. Browning, Some account of the Greek Christian poets, page 147:]
The growing sense that more and more religious Jews are now worshiping openly at the holy site was given support by a report over the weekend on Israel’s Channel 12, which broadcast footage of Jewish prayer sessions and Torah lessons it said were being held there daily. [2021 July 20, Andrew Carey, “A fragile status quo on prayer rights at Jerusalem holy site comes under fresh strain”, in CNN, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022:]
“Through the Sacraments, God shares his holiness with us so that we, in turn, can make the world holier,” the conference says on its website. [2022 February 14, Chuck Johnston and Steve Almasy, “A pastor baptized people for decades using one wrong word. Now those are all considered invalid”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05 Jan 2025:]
On Tuesday, a month since they were abducted, families of those kidnapped are expected to protest at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism, as well as at the Knesset, over what they say are inadequate efforts to reach a deal with Hamas to release their loved ones. [2023 November 6, Peter Beaumont, Bethan McKernan, “Israeli troops encircle Gaza City and expected to enter in force within 48 hours”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2025:]
This tree is considered holy in my culture.
My grandmother is a very holy woman.
Holy cow, I can’t believe he actually lost the race!
Those children next door are holy terrors!
Holy mackerel

Adjectives inflected like holy

syrupy, seemly, seggsy, snuffy, snippy, snitty, sniffy, snotty, snouty, snobby, snoozy, snooty, snazzy, snappy, snarky, snarly, snassy, snaily, snacky, snaggy, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)

Etymology

1. From Middle English ali, aly, hale, halege, hali, halȝe, hayly, holi, holia, holie, holiȝ, holy, hooly, oli, oly, wholy, woly, from Old English hāleġ, hāliġ (“holy, sacred; healthy, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *hailag, from Proto-Germanic *hailagaz (“holy, sacred”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“healthy; whole”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“intact, whole; complete; hale, healthy, sound”), equivalent to whole + -y and a doublet of later wholly.
2. Cognates
3. Cognate with Scots halie, haly (“holy”), Yola holly, holy (“holy”), Saterland Frisian helig (“holy”), Alemannic German, Dutch, and German heilig (“holy, sacred”), Cimbrian hòolig (“holy”), Luxembourgish helleg (“holy”), Vilamovian haeliḱ, haliky, hȧlikjy, hǡliḱ (“holy”), Yiddish הייליק (heylik, “holy”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hellig (“holy”), Faroese heilagur (“holy”), Icelandic heilagur, helgur (“holy”), Norwegian Nynorsk heilag, heilag’u (“holy”), Swedish helig (“holy”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌲𐍃 (hailags, “holy”); also Latin cael, caelus, caelum, coelus, coelum (“heaven; sky; climate, weather”), Belarusian цэ́лы (cély, “entire, whole”), Bulgarian цял (cjal, “entire, full, intact, whole; real, regular, veritable”), Czech and Slovak celý (“whole”), Macedonian цел (cel, “entire, whole”), Polish cały (“entire, whole”), Russian це́лый (célyj, “entire, whole”), Serbo-Croatian це̏о, ци̏јел, ци̏о, cȅo, cȉjel, cȉo (“entire, whole”), Slovene cel (“whole”), Ukrainian ці́лий (cílyj, “entire, whole”). More at whole. See: Swedish Adjectives 'helig', Gothic Adjectives '𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌲𐍃', Polish Adjectives 'cały'.

Verbs referencing "holy"

German Adjectives heilig.