god

plural gods · alternative humorous pronunciation spelling gawd · alternative humorous pronunciation spelling Gawd · alternative g-d · alternative G-d · alternative God

1. A deity or supreme being; a supernatural, typically immortal, being with superior powers, to which personhood is attributed.

   The most frequently used name for the Islamic god is Allah.

   1 more example

   When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love.

   2002, Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby

2. An idol.
   1. A representation of a deity, especially a statue or statuette.
   2. figurativelySomething or someone particularly revered, worshipped, idealized, admired and/or followed.

      Leo Messi is my god!

      2 more examples

      whose god is their belly

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 3:19

      There was an order in the universe, but it was no longer the order of the past. There was only one God, whose name was steam and spoke in the voice of Malthus, McCulloch, and anyone who employed machinery.

      1962, Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution. 1789-1848, page 186

3. figurativelyA person in a very high position of authority, importance or influence; a powerful ruler or tyrant.

   In 1951 Stalin was a god and the official tone towards the West was one of total antagonism.

   1959, Percy E. Corbett, Law in Diplomacy, page 105

4. figurativelyinformalA person who is exceptionally skilled in a particular activity.

   He is the god of soccer!

5. figurativelyinformalAn exceedingly handsome man.

   Lounging on the beach were several Greek gods.

   1 more example

   Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts.

   a. 1918, Wilfred Owen, Disabled

6. Internetroleplaying gamesThe person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon.

   The gods usually have several wizards, or "immortals," to assist them in building the MUD.

   1996, Andy Eddy, Internet after hours

   1 more example

   The wizzes are only the junior grade of the MUD illuminati. The people who attain the senior grade of MUD freemasonry by starting their own MUD, with all due hubris, are known as gods.

   2003, David Lojek, Emote to the Max, page 11

   Synonyms: arch, imp

alternative humorous pronunciation spelling gawd · alternative humorous pronunciation spelling Gawd · alternative g-d · alternative G-d · alternative God

1. alsoderogatoryoftenhuman sciencesAlternative letter-case form of God.

   “I say fuck it. Fuck god and fuck all the religions that praise him.”

   2005, Diane L. Gabriel, Angel of My Heart, →ISBN, page 46

   5 more examples

   And ſuch is to beare yͤ names of god with croſſes betwene ech name about them.

   1530, William Tyndall, “An aunſwere vnto Syr Thomas Mores Dialogue”, in The whole workes of W. Tyndall […], published 1573, page 271

   For if the necessity of events is bound up with god’s knowledge, if there is no necessity in events, the divine knowledge is abolished. And whose mind is so distorted by such an impious idea that he would dare to say this of god?

   2010 [6th century], Boethius, translated by Andrew Smith, On Aristotle, On Interpretation 1–3, page 136

   If I ask you if you believe in god, I just want to know if you have an imaginary omnipotent friend who you really believe lives outside of you in the real world.

   2012, Penn Jillette, God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales, →ISBN, page 77

   Perhaps what is needed is just the right attitude: one’s heart should be open to god in order to hear his messages. […] It does not matter: such claims only prove my point about the communicative shortcomings of so-called divine signs.

   2016, Andrew Sneddon, A is for Atheist: An A to Z of the Godfree Life, →ISBN

   This is the formulation of the moral end as ‘assimilation to god’, which would become standard in later Platonism.

   2017, Myrto Hatzimichali, “Stoicism and Platonism in ‘Arius Didymus’”, in Troels Engberg-Pedersen, editor, From Stoicism to Platonism: The Development of Philosophy, 100 BCE–100 CE, →ISBN, page 91

present singular third person gods · participle present godding · participle past godded · past godded · alternative humorous pronunciation spelling gawd · alternative humorous pronunciation spelling Gawd · alternative g-d · alternative G-d · alternative God

1. transitiveTo idolize.

   a. 1866, Edward Bulwer Lytton, "Death and Sisyphus". To men the first necessity is gods; / And if the gods were not, / " Man would invent them, tho' they godded stones.

   2 more examples

   CORIOLANUS: This last old man, / Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome, / Loved me above the measure of a father; / Nay, godded me, indeed.

   1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, act V, scene III

   "Godded him up" ... It's the fear of discerning journalists: Does coverage of athletic stars, on field and off, approach beatification of the living?

   2001, Conrad C. Fink, Sportswriting: The Lively Game, page 78

2. transitiveTo deify.

   "She is so lately godded that she is still a rather poor goddess, Stranger.["]

   1956, C. S. Lewis, Fritz Eichenberg, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold, page 241

   2 more examples

   Then got he bow and shafts of gold and lead, / In which so fell and puissant he grew, / That Jove himselfe his powre began to dread, / And, taking up to heaven, him godded new.

   1595, Edmund Spenser, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe

   The superman marks the end of a road on which we find such figures as the "godded man" of English Reformation mystics

   1951, Eric Voegelin, Dante Germino ed., The New Science of Politics: An Introduction, published 1987, page 125

plural Gods · alternative archaic euphemistic regional od · alternative derogatory often god · alternative gawd · alternative Gawd · alternative g-d · alternative G-d

1. uncountableusuallyThe first deity of various theistic religions, and the only deity in monotheism.

   Dawn believes in God, but Willow believes in gods and goddesses.

   5 more examples

   Hee that loueth not, knoweth not God: for God is loue

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 John 4:8

   God is loue, and hee that dwelleth in loue, dwelleth in God, and God in him.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 John 4:16

   ...God, the All-gracious, the All-good, the All-bountiful, the All-mighty, the All-merciful God...

   1741, [Samuel Richardson], Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 388

   The Muéddin: God is great, there is no God but God.

   1911, Katharine Harris Bradley as Michael Field, Accuser, page 158

   This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help — and God's.

   1971 [1963 November 22], Lyndon Johnson, “The Beginning”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 17

   1. uncountableusuallyTrinitarian ChristianityGod the Father as distinguished from Jesus Christ, God the Son.

      God sent Jesus to earth to be the King of the Jews; that is, the one to tell them what they should do. […] I will tell you why God let Jesus die upon the cross.

      1899, The Sunday School Journal, page 378

      Synonyms: god

2. uncountableusuallyThe single male deity of various bitheistic or duotheistic religions.

   God and Goddess watched as the finite universe continued to develop into a stable platform to sustain finite life and were pleased.

   2006, Ronald L. Clark, The Grace of Being, page 22

   2 more examples

   The ancients represented this fundamental duality mythologically as God and Goddess. When Mystery looks at itself, God looks at Goddess.

   2001, Timothy Freke, Peter Gandy, Jesus and the Lost Goddess, page 133

   This reduces the successful invocation of God to a function of the presence of male genitalia. Put another way, women have the wrong equipment to invoke God. Goddess and God flow throughout all of nature, through each and every man and woman, becoming fully present in the world.

   2005, Nikki Bado-Fralick, Coming to the Edge of the Circle, page 45

3. uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesThe transcendent principle, for example the ultimate cause or prime mover, often not considered as a person.

   For Aristotle, God as the ultimate ground is the being that is responsible for the workings of the rational cosmos, but not for itself.

   2000, Catriona Hanley, Being and God in Aristotle and Heidegger, →ISBN, page 195

   2 more examples

   God (the great everlasting infinite First Cause from whom all things in heaven and earth proceed) [translating Chinese 道] can neither be defined nor named.

   1895, “The Tâo-Tĭh-King, or Thoughts on the Nature and Manifestations of God”, in G. G. Alexander, transl., Lâo-Tsze the Great Thinker […], page 55

   Now, if night, winter, hunger, and war, which describe the God’s appearance as the multiple world, are his ‘scents’ and ‘names’, the same must be true of the world’s several constituents: all created things are just transient ‘scents’, and their names misnomers, of the fiery God.

   2017, Aryeh Finkelberg, Heraclitus and Thales’ Conceptual Scheme: A Historical Study, →ISBN, page 156

plural Gods · alternative archaic euphemistic regional od · alternative derogatory often god · alternative gawd · alternative Gawd · alternative g-d · alternative G-d

1. A being such as a monotheistic God: a single divine creator and ruler of the universe.

   The Muéddin: God is great, there is no God but God.

   1911, Katharine Harris Bradley as Michael Field, Accuser, p. 158

   3 more examples

   A God there is, that guyds the Globe, and framde the fyckle Spheare.

   1563, Barnabe Googe, Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonettes, sig. Cviiiv

   Perhaps this... must involve a relationship with a God of truth—and of love, of mercy, of justice.

   1960 April 25, advertisement in Life, p. 125

   Whoever said that there isn't a God is full of shit!

   2009, Nick Cave, The Death of Bunny Munro, page 68

alternative archaic euphemistic regional od · alternative derogatory often god · alternative gawd · alternative Gawd · alternative g-d · alternative G-d

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of oh God: expressing annoyance or frustration.

   God, is this because of the "I don't love you anymore" T-shirt I bought? It was a joke!

   1 more example

   Admiral Anderson: God... feels like years since I just sat down.

   2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel (Priority: Earth)

1. Typographical variant of God, particularly in English translations of the Bible.

   Surely the Lord God [Hebrew: אדני יהוה] does nothing without revealing his purpose to his servants the prophets.

   2022, The Holy Bible (Open English Bible), Job 3:7

   Synonyms: LORD