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sanctify

[sangk-tuh-fahy] / ˈsæŋk təˌfaɪ /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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It is that the law will sanctify it.

From Slate ● Jul. 3, 2025

These shrines laden with incense, flowers and other offerings sanctify its gardens, waters and the surrounding landscape, and they highlight the psychic malaise dominating most of its visitors.

From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2025

Enshrined, meaning to cherish, revere, exalt, consecrate and sanctify, is a word of dignity and respect now side-by-side with same-sex marriages and families, and interracial families.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2022

It’s a heavy role — Killer is the story’s sacrificial lamb — yet Caan, working with Coppola, imbues the part with a subtle, persuasive innocence that doesn’t patronize the character or sanctify his disability.

From New York Times ● Jul. 8, 2022

“We will sanctify it anew to the god of love.”

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

He said he was "glad that Israel will participate again in Eurovision and I hope that the competition will remain one that sanctifies culture, poetry, and friendship between peoples and cross-border cultural understanding".

From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2025

Many of the minimal and conceptual artists that Dia sanctifies upstairs worked in converted lofts in the 1960s and 1970s, of course.

From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2020

That movie sanctifies ignorance, whereas Heller’s, equally gentle, explores not simplemindedness so much as simplicity, a rarer gift.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 15, 2019

The lovers undergo a dangerous trial to be initiated into Sarastro’s brotherhood, and at the end he crowns the couple and sanctifies their union.

From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2012

It signifies wealth, evokes the closeness of family, and sanctifies a proper meal.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

Not Section 60, where the atmosphere is sanctified but not somber—too many kids, Meredith recalled from her visits to her son’s burial site.

From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2024

“Here, communication between man and God takes place,” said Lyngdoh, a descendant of the priestly clan which sanctified the Mawphlang forest.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2024

The family-friendly circus act “White Gold,” presented by the Cambodian Circus ensemble Phare and playing now at New Victory Theater, details the nation’s inextricable link to the sanctified crop.

From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2023

What these children need isn’t the charity of some wealthy family or the stern wisdom of some sanctified coach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2023

She offered him a canteen of unicorn draught - powdered horn mixed with sanctified water from the Little Tiber.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

As I take steps in teaching, sanctifying and leading, I hope to listen more than I speak and to learn from the people entrusted to my care.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

Given that prescriptive outlook, the NASA-commissioned Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study is raising a “we’re from the government, and we’re here to help” flag while sanctifying a scientific look at aerial weirdness.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 9, 2023

One prayer was read in memory of the “Kedoshim of Pittsburgh, murdered al kiddush Hashem” — holy martyrs, killed while sanctifying God’s name.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2023

“Anne’s final gift to us was dying in the state of sanctifying grace. We know we will one day be reunited with her in God’s kingdom.”

From Washington Times ● Oct. 31, 2022

In this sense the place was like modern purpose-built political capitals, such as Washington, D.C., or Canberra, Australia, with sanctifying civic monuments to compensate for a lack of real history.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro


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