Divinity

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.

• formal

  holiness

  when spiritual purity or dedication to a deity is central

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

• formal

  sacredness

  when something is set apart and worthy of religious respect

  not when Sacredness can attach to a place or practice without asserting divine nature.

• formal

  sanctity

  when inviolable worth deserves solemn protection

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

• literary

  godhead

  when divine essence is discussed in theology

  not when Godhead is doctrinal and archaic outside explicit theological writing.

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.

• everyday

  perfection

  when flawless quality is the intended praise

  not when Perfection judges completeness, while divinity can arise from fragile or imperfect beauty.

• warm

  radiance

  when luminous beauty or joy creates the effect

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

• literary

  sublimity

  when beauty inspires awe through grandeur or elevation

  not when Sublimity can be severe or overwhelming rather than gentle and sacred.

• profanity
• secularity
• ordinariness

• 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.

• Divine adj.
• Divinely adv.

• Wiktionary, English noun, sense 1: the state or quality of being divine ↗opens in a new tab for meaning 1 · retrieved 2026-07-26
• Wiktionary, English noun, figurative sense: a divine or transcendent quality ↗opens in a new tab for meaning 2 · retrieved 2026-07-26

The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.