May we count your visit with Google Analytics? It uses cookies and sends visit data to Google. You can change this any time under Cookie choices. Privacy

 Browse the A to Z list

Divinity

n. thoughtful, calm formal

What it means

Meaning 1

The state or quality of being divine or sacred.

Reach for it when naming sacred nature within a religious, spiritual, or philosophical context

The hymn locates divinity in mercy rather than grandeur.

Meaning 2

A quality of beauty or excellence that seems to transcend ordinary experience.

Reach for it when using elevated praise for beauty experienced as almost sacred

Listeners heard a quiet divinity in the unaccompanied final verse.

Words to choose between 7

By register, from playful at the top to literary at the bottom, and by meaning across. Tap a word to see when it fits.
Meaning 1Meaning 2
everyday
warm
formal
literary

Meaning 1: The state or quality of being divine or sacred.

  • formal

    holiness

    Fits when spiritual purity or dedication to a deity is central

    Careful Holiness carries a moral and religious claim that may not fit secular spirituality.

  • formal

    sacredness

    Fits when something is set apart and worthy of religious respect

    Careful Sacredness can attach to a place or practice without asserting divine nature.

  • formal

    sanctity

    Fits when inviolable worth deserves solemn protection

    Careful Sanctity may be legal or moral language and does not always refer to a deity.

  • literary

    godhead

    Fits when divine essence is discussed in theology

    Careful Godhead is doctrinal and archaic outside explicit theological writing.

Meaning 2: A quality of beauty or excellence that seems to transcend ordinary experience.

  • everyday

    perfection

    Fits when flawless quality is the intended praise

    Careful Perfection judges completeness, while divinity can arise from fragile or imperfect beauty.

  • warm

    radiance

    Fits when luminous beauty or joy creates the effect

    Careful Radiance emphasizes brightness and does not carry divinity's spiritual depth.

  • literary

    sublimity

    Fits when beauty inspires awe through grandeur or elevation

    Careful Sublimity can be severe or overwhelming rather than gentle and sacred.

Opposites 3

  • profanity
  • secularity
  • ordinariness

Common phrases 4

  • sense of divinity

    The small sanctuary offered visitors a sense of divinity without spectacle.

  • human divinity

    The poem finds human divinity in compassion freely given.

  • touch of divinity

    A touch of divinity entered the plain melody when the voices joined.

  • glimpse of divinity

    The painter found a glimpse of divinity in reflected winter light.

Word family 2

Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Steve Shives, Maryland accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC0 Updated