triune

T1R1I1U1N1E1
/ˈtraɪˌjuːn//ˌtraɪˈjuːn/

adjective

Both trine and one at the same time.

“Christians believe in a triune God, meaning that he is three hypostases in perfect unity.”

Similar
UncommonScrabble 6

Meanings

adjectivetriune (not comparable)
  1. not comparableChristianityBoth trine and one at the same time.

    Christians believe in a triune God, meaning that he is three hypostases in perfect unity.

    4 more examples

    The entire member seems a dense webbed bed of welded sinews; but cut into it, and you find that three distinct strata compose it:—upper, middle, and lower. […]. This triune structure, as much as anything else, imparts power to the tail.

    1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 86, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

    1990, Mary Ann Fatula, The Triune God of Christian Faith, Liturgical Press (Michael Glazier Books), page 21, To be Christian today thus means reflective and critical fidelity to the essential elements of our Christian heritage in scripture and tradition, yet in a way that enables us to respond to the ever new presence of the triune God active in our own experience and world.

    2003, Jeffrey C. Pugh, Entertaining the Triune Mystery, Continuum International Publishing Group (Trinity Press International), page 80, Because the triune God is seen in ways that reflect relationality, God's presence can be expressed in the world in such a way that gnostic separation of the world and God should not be allowed to be a central part of Christian belief.

    And in a double movement, the descent of the eternal Son is the Triune God's movement to initiate and enable reconciliation decisively with humanity, which is then followed by the ascent of the human Christ to continue the enabled relationship with the Triune God.

    2014, Dick O. Eugenio, Communion with the Triune God, Wipf and Stock, unnumbered page
  2. not comparableOf an artistic or literary work composed of three parts united by a single theme.

    And, with that end, Zeus reëmerges as the divine protagonist of the triune drama.

    1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VIII. The Orestea: III. Eumenides”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 234

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivebeing three in one; used especially of the Christian Trinity

Similar
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. New Latintriūnus
  2. Englishtriune

PIE word *tréyes Borrowed from New Latin triūnus.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian триеди́нен
  • триеди́нен (triedínen)both three and one at the same time
Czech trojjediný
  • trojjedinýboth three and one at the same time
Dutch drie-enig
  • drie-enigboth three and one at the same time
Finnish kolmiyhteinen, kolminainen
  • kolmiyhteinenboth three and one at the same time
  • kolminainenboth three and one at the same time
French trin
  • trinboth three and one at the same time
German dreieinig
  • dreieinigboth three and one at the same time
Icelandic þríeinn
  • þríeinnboth three and one at the same time
Italian trino
  • trinoboth three and one at the same time
Latin triūnus
  • triūnusboth three and one at the same time
Polish trójjedyny
  • trójjedynyboth three and one at the same time
Portuguese triúno, trino
  • triúnoboth three and one at the same time
  • trinoboth three and one at the same time
Russian триеди́ный
  • триеди́ный (trijedínyj)both three and one at the same time
Spanish triuno
  • triunoboth three and one at the same time
Swedish treenig
  • treenigboth three and one at the same time
Ukrainian триєди́ний
  • триєди́ний (tryjedýnyj)both three and one at the same time

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

triune. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/triune

MLA

“triune.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/triune. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “triune,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/triune.

Source: triune on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.