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bless

verb

ˈbles How to pronounce bless (audio)
Definition of blessnext
1
as in to consecrate
to make holy through prayers or ritual the priest blessed the water, thus allowing it to be used as holy water for various rites

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to celebrate
to proclaim the glory of bless the name of God

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to gift
to furnish freely or naturally with some power, quality, or attribute blessed with a knack for glib conversation

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bless Arsenal are blessed with two elite right-backs in Ben White and Jurrien Timber, but unfortunately for Mikel Arteta, there always seems to be a catch. — Art De Roché, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026 Nature has blessed certain types of carnivorous plants with pretty colors, pleasant fragrances, and sticky, sugary emissions, all the better to attract and trap its prey. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 Sep. 2026 God bless the first responders and those that participated across the country this morning in stair climbs. — Jon Root Outkick, FOXNews.com, 11 Sep. 2026 Not since early Vanderpump Rules have we been so blessed by morally bankrupt individuals being so willing to televise their cheating (key word being willing). — Tom Smyth, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bless
  1. consecrate
  2. celebrate
  3. gift
  4. dedicate
  5. praise
  6. endow
  7. sanctify
  8. hallow
Verb
  • The King’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, is also expected to be consecrated during the ceremony.
    — Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Still, there were only eight African Anglican clergy in Kenya by 1920, and the first Kenyan bishops would not be consecrated until 1955.
    — Stephanie TriplettAll, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of consecrate
Verb
  • About 60 present and past members of the Aurora Lamplighter Chorus and Elgin’s Fox Valley Harmonizers gathered in August to celebrate each group’s 80th anniversary.
    — Tom Strong, Chicago Tribune, 20 Sep. 2026
  • The landmark was illuminated in green, white and red to celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day and honor the country’s culture, identity and traditions.
    — Isabela Raygoza, Billboard, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of celebrate
Verb
  • Last year for my birthday, two of my closest friends gifted me this beautiful Bellocchi casserole, which worked great alongside the yellows and greens of the sunflowers as an unconventional but perfect salad bowl.
    — Elly Leavitt, Vogue, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Colbert gifted Kimmel his Captain America shield, did a sketch-within-an-interview with his son impersonating a Kiwi police officer, and shaved for our amusement.
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of gift
Verb
  • There’s no need to choose between work and play at this Atlanta mansion in the historic Tuxedo Park neighborhood, which has a terrace level dedicated completely to entertainment.
    — Tori Latham, Robb Report, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Not dedicating, not prioritizing, not committing to funding the mental health services that are necessary under state law and the federal constitution is not an adequate excuse.
    — Jim DeFede, CBS News, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of dedicate
Verb
  • Last week, Lucas praised the team for offering to cover the debt costs, reducing the risk to the city budget.
    — Dylan Lysen, Kansas City Star, 16 Sep. 2026
  • In its reporting, Southern Living magazine praised the fan-favorite destination for its charming downtown and proximity to scenic views.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of praise
Verb
  • This extreme foregrounding of character in terms of action endows the cast with a retrospective air of typecasting, in a positive sense—the actors seem made for their parts, coalescing with their characters temperamentally.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2026
  • The show was considered an outlier in its generally sympathetic take on Hill and his conservative views, as well as in terms of the agency with which the show’s creators endowed its working- and middle-class characters.
    — Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of endow
Verb
  • Guns became sacred, and violence was increasingly justified, if not sanctified.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 25 Aug. 2026
  • The church has always preached that humans are created in God’s image; by assuming the messy fragility of human form, God’s son sanctified human experience.
    — Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of sanctify
Verb
  • Yet, these grounds were hallowed to the African American community.
    — Chip Colwell, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2025
  • In a new political environment in which none of the new leaders could claim to be revolutionary founding fathers, Deng’s blessing hallowed Jiang and Hu and helped ensure that each survived the vicissitudes of succession politics.
    — Jonathan A. Czin, Foreign Affairs, 21 Oct. 2025
Definition of hallow

Browse Nearby Words

blend (with)
bless
blessed
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Cite this Entry

“Bless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bless. Accessed 22 Sep. 2026.

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