Meanings
- A phrase used to thank God by Christians.
Synonyms: praise be to God
- Expression of thankful happiness; not always literally religious when used by cultural Christians, but not explicitly differentiable, thus ambiguous.
Synonyms: praise be, praise be to God
- UKmildly blasphemousStereotypical exclamation used in mockery of Christianity.
“There was a time when the homosexual demanded marriage,” he added with an exasperated chuckle. “Praise the Lord, that time is past. PRAISE THE LORD!” he commanded.
2021, Truscott Jones, chapter 1, in For the Common Good: What Happens When the Powerful Get Desperate?, Saint Petersburg, Fla.: BookLocker, →ISBN, page 8
Synonyms & antonyms
interjectionA phrase used to thank God by Christians.
interjectionExpression of thankful happiness; not always literally religious when used by cultural Christians, but not explicitly differentiable, thus ambiguous.
Origin
A present subjunctive clause inherited intact from a time when English was freely productive of them. It is semantically equivalent to praise be to God. The zero morph difference from the imperative form allows parsing as a command synchronically.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سُبْحَانَ اللّٰه
- سُبْحَانَ اللّٰه (subḥāna llāh)phrase used to thank God
Bengali সুবহানাল্লাহ
- সুবহানাল্লাহ (śub'hanallah)phrase used to thank God
French louez le Seigneur, loué soit le Seigneur
- louez le Seigneurphrase used to thank God
- loué soit le Seigneurphrase used to thank God
- gloire à Dieuphrase used to thank God
Hebrew הַלְּלוּיָהּ, הַלְּלוּקָהּ
- הַלְּלוּיָהּ (hal'luyáh)phrase used to thank God
- הַלְּלוּקָהּ (hal'lukáh)phrase used to thank God
Hindi सुभानअल्लाह
- सुभानअल्लाह (subhānaallāh)phrase used to thank God
Indonesian subhanallah
- subhanallahphrase used to thank God
Italian sia lodato Dio, sia lodato Iddio
- sia lodato Diophrase used to thank God
- sia lodato Iddiophrase used to thank God
- sia lodato il Signorephrase used to thank God
- sia lodato il cielophrase used to thank God
Japanese スブハーナッラー
- スブハーナッラー (subuhānarrā)phrase used to thank God
Latin laus Deō
- laus Deōphrase used to thank God
Polish chwała Bogu
- chwała Boguphrase used to thank God
Spanish alabado sea Dios
- alabado sea Diosphrase used to thank God
Swedish prisa Gud, pris vare Gud
- prisa Gudphrase used to thank God
- pris vare Gudphrase used to thank God
- prisad vare Gudphrase used to thank God
Urdu سبحان اللہ
- سبحان اللہ (subhān-allāh)phrase used to thank God
Cite this entry
praise the Lord. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/praise%20the%20Lord
“praise the Lord.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/praise%20the%20Lord. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “praise the Lord,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/praise%20the%20Lord.
Source: praise the Lord on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.