Meanings
holiness1
plural holinesses · alternative holinesse · alternative holyness · alternative holynesse
- countableuncountableThe state or condition of being holy.
“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 CNN1 more example
R. Moskowitz charges cisgender readers to be as conscious and deliberate with our religious identities as transgender and gender non-conforming people are with theirs, arguing that holiness is only achieved through continuous and unrelenting struggle and change.
2019, Rachel Timoner, “Book Review: Textual Activism by Rabbi Mike Moskowitz”, in TikkunSynonyms: sacrality, sacredness, sanctity
Holiness2
plural Holinesses
- countableUsed in connection with His or Your to address the leader of some religious traditions, notably the pope.
Your Holiness
1 more example
Currently he is a firm pillar that is supporting the Tibetan diaspora, holding them all together—but I worry about what will happen to Tibetans when His Holiness leaves his current body.
2021, The Extraordinary Life of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illuminated Journey, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 47
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe state or condition of being holy.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*hailagnassī
- Old Englishhāliġnes“holiness, a holy thing, rites”
- Middle Englishholynesse
- Englishholiness
From Middle English holynesse, holinesse, halinesse, from Old English hāliġnes (“holiness, a holy thing, rites”), from Proto-West Germanic *hailagnassī, equivalent to holy + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian hilligens (“holiness”), Old High German heilagnissi, heilīgnissi (“holiness”), whence Middle High German heilignis (“halidom”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἁγιασμός, ἁγιωσύνη
- ἁγιασμός (hagiasmós)state or condition of being holy
- ἁγιωσύνη (hagiōsúnē)state or condition of being holy
- ὁσιότης (hosiótēs)state or condition of being holy
Arabic قُدْسِيَّة
- قُدْسِيَّة (qudsiyya)state or condition of being holy
Bulgarian святост
- святост (svjatost)state or condition of being holy
Catalan santedat
- santedatstate or condition of being holy
Chinese Mandarin 尊嚴 /尊严
- 尊嚴 /尊严 (zūnyán)state or condition of being holy
Czech svatost
- svatoststate or condition of being holy
Dutch heiligheid
- heiligheidstate or condition of being holy
Esperanto sankteco
- sanktecostate or condition of being holy
Finnish pyhyys
- pyhyysstate or condition of being holy
French sainteté, sainteté
- saintetéstate or condition of being holy
- saintetéused to address the pope
German Heiligkeit, Heiligkeit
- Heiligkeitstate or condition of being holy
- Heiligkeitused to address the pope
Greek αγιότητα, αγιοσύνη
- αγιότητα (agiótita)state or condition of being holy
- αγιοσύνη (agiosýni)state or condition of being holy
Icelandic Heilagleiki
- Heilagleikiused to address the pope
Indonesian kesucian, kekudusan
- kesucianstate or condition of being holy
- kekudusanstate or condition of being holy
- kekeramatanstate or condition of being holy
Italian santità, Santità
- santitàstate or condition of being holy
- Santitàused to address the pope
Japanese 尊厳, 台下
- 尊厳 (songen)state or condition of being holy
- 台下 (daika)used to address the pope
Korean 존엄
- 존엄 (joneom)state or condition of being holy
Norwegian Bokmål hellighet
- hellighetstate or condition of being holy
Persian تقدس
- تقدس (taqaddos)state or condition of being holy
Polish świętość
- świętośćstate or condition of being holy
Portuguese santidade, Santidade
- santidadestate or condition of being holy
- Santidadeused to address the pope
Russian свя́тость, свяще́нность
- свя́тость (svjátostʹ)state or condition of being holy
- свяще́нность (svjaščénnostʹ)state or condition of being holy
- святе́йшество (svjatéjšestvo)used to address the pope
Spanish santidad
- santidadstate or condition of being holy
Swahili utakatifu
- utakatifustate or condition of being holy
Swedish helighet
- helighetstate or condition of being holy
Tagalog kabanalan
- kabanalanstate or condition of being holy
Tamil தூய்மை, பரிசுத்தம்
- தூய்மை (tūymai)state or condition of being holy
- பரிசுத்தம் (paricuttam)state or condition of being holy
Turkish kutsallık
- kutsallıkstate or condition of being holy
Welsh sancteiddrwydd
- sancteiddrwyddstate or condition of being holy
Cite this entry
holiness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holiness
“holiness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holiness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “holiness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holiness.
Source: holiness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.