sacred

adj

1. Characterized by solemn religious ceremony or religious use, especially, in a positive sense; consecrated, made holy.

   “a sacred place”

   “a sacred day”

   “sacred service”

   “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.”

   “In doing this I particularly instructed my informant to tell his tale as if he were relating it to his own people, and to use the same words that he would use if he were recounting similar tales to them when assembled in a sacred house.”

2. Religious; relating to religion, or to the services of religion; not secular

   “Smit with the love of sacred song.”

   “By way of example, it would be sufficient to refer to Sabino Samele acquaviva (1971), previously known for his theory of the eclipse of the sacred, and to Harvey cox (1968), prophet of the secular city.”

3. Spiritual; concerned with metaphysics.

   “Unlike most metaphysical or philosophical naturalists who reject any supernatural beings or supernatural/sacred entities, naturalists who take the concept of the sacred seriously must answer this question: “What is the value of the sacred with respect to nature?"”

   “In his major studies, Eliade explains the sacred and profane as “two modes of being in the world, two existential situations assumed by man in the course of history. . . . In the last analysis, the sacred and profane modes of being depend upon the different positions that man has conquered in the cosmos."”

4. Designated or exalted by a divine sanction; possessing the highest title to obedience, honor, reverence, or veneration; entitled to extreme reverence; venerable.

   “Such neighbor nearness to our sacred [royal] blood Should nothing privilege him.”

   “Poet and saint to thee alone were given, The two most sacred names of earth and heaven.”

5. Not to be profaned or violated; inviolable.

   “Secrets of marriage still are sacred held.”

   “The sacred project of sociology is simply to help people enjoy being fully what they are.”

6. Consecrated; dedicated; devoted

   “A temple, sacred to the queen of love.”

7. (archaic)Solemnly devoted, in a bad sense, as to evil, vengeance, curse, or the like; accursed; baleful.

   “But, to destruction sacred and devote.”

verb

1. (form-of, participle, past)simple past and past participle of sacre