Definition of DIVINE

Choose the Right Synonym for divine

Verb

foresee, foreknow, divine, anticipate mean to know beforehand. foresee implies nothing about how the knowledge is derived and may apply to ordinary reasoning and experience. economists should have foreseen the recession foreknow usually implies supernatural assistance, as through revelation. if only we could foreknow our own destinies divine adds to foresee the suggestion of exceptional wisdom or discernment. was able to divine Europe's rapid recovery from the war anticipate implies taking action about or responding emotionally to something before it happens. the waiter anticipated our every need

Examples of divine in a Sentence

Adjective They prayed for divine intervention. how about a piece of the most divine apple pie I've ever tasted! Noun the great influence exerted by the Puritan divines in the Massachusetts Bay Colony Verb divine the answer to a question it was easy to divine his intention of asking his girlfriend to marry him

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective Some, as devout Catholics or evangelical Christians, insist that divine intervention will win the day. — ExpressNews.com, "Migrants hunkered down in crowded, filthy border encampment," 17 Nov. 2019 Sunstone - Sunstone is a catalyst for the masculine to evolve toward graceful integration with the feminine divine, facilitating allowance to be present without ego, to embrace the nurturing aspects of the divine mother. — Rania Aniftos, Billboard, "Jhene Aiko Soothes the Anxious Mind With Meditative 'Trigger Protection Mantra': Listen," 13 Sep. 2019 One of her finest compositions in a list brimming with memorable accompaniments for acclaimed productions, Levi’s music this time around oscillates between the earthly and the divine, like everything else in Landes’ vision. — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, "Review: Heaven, Earth and war collide in Alejandro Landes’ visceral ‘Monos’," 12 Sep. 2019 In 2014, in D&D’s latest edition, players met the Warlock, a being whose magic is neither arcane, divine, nor innate, but sourced from a binding pact with a powerful eldritch being (think more Cthulhu than Zeus). — William Herkewitz, Popular Mechanics, "Why D&D Modernized Its Magic for a New Generation of Fantasy," 1 Sep. 2019 Some stress that freedom for all was always the divine purpose, and that God only allowed slavery in the early days of Islam as a concession to the realities of the age. — The Economist, "Everywhere in chains," 27 Aug. 2019 France's fourth goal was simply divine, a team move of lightning pace that culminated in Olivier Giroud's incisive pass to Mbappe, and his cool finish. — SI.com, "Messi vs Ronaldo: The Myth of the One-Man Team & the Overwhelming Importance of Trust," 2 July 2018 European colonizers used the idea of Manifest Destiny based in a righteous divine purpose to validate the killing, raping, and theft of indigenous land and ideas. — Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, "New Mexico’s education chief blasted for linking charter schools with ‘Manifest Destiny’," 9 Jan. 2018 Beyond divine intervention, however, DeSantis and emergency planners are still focused on helping Northwest Florida recover from Hurricane Michael — and preparing for future hurricane seasons across the state. — Jim Turner, orlandosentinel.com, "Hurricane Dorian missed Florida but taught valuable lessons for future hurricane seasons," 25 Nov. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Part of it stirred my remaining notions of the divine. — Hank Stuever, Washington Post, "2019’s best TV moment? It was Stephen Colbert answering Anderson Cooper’s question about grief.," 23 Dec. 2019 But, working with Stearns and Williams, Dorfman is also able to convey this dialogue with the divine as an intellectual and emotional tussle between two worthy adversaries. — Dominic P. Papatola, Twin Cities, "Theater review: ‘O my God’ is divine, but not wholly a comedy," 28 Oct. 2019 More recently, Elizabeth Gilbert, in The Signature of All Things, sends her protagonist, a young female botanist, from her life of science and structure in 19th-century Philadelphia to Tahiti in search of the spiritual, the divine, and the magical. — Rebecca Misner, Condé Nast Traveler, "Island Hopping in French Polynesia," 15 Nov. 2019 Ladybugs have associations with the divine in many languages. — National Geographic, "6 surprisingly lucky animals around the world," 13 Mar. 2019 Next, thought: the rationalizing of the spiritual impulse, earnest contemplation of the divine. — John Hirschauer, National Review, "Kanye West’s Reactionary Turn Isn’t Just an Act," 4 Nov. 2019 Thailand’s top royals are officially treated as semi-divine. — Time, "Thailand's King Strips His Royal Consort of Her Title Over Alleged Disloyalty, 'Inappropriate Behavior'," 21 Oct. 2019 Sure, some intervention — divine, political or otherwise — could still stop the House from voting on the political equivalent of an indictment on crimes against the nation. — NBC News, "'The dam could break' on impeachment this week," 23 Sep. 2019 His idea was that, although life is somewhat branched, there is direction in evolution, a progression toward greater cognitive complexity and, ultimately, to identification with the divine, that is, God. — Quentin Wheeler, Quartz, "That popular monkey-to-man chart gets evolution all wrong," 4 Sep. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Ostler tries to divine what’s bringing it all together now. — Taylor Kate Brown, SFChronicle.com, "Bay Briefing: How does Shen Yun pay for all those ads?," 13 Jan. 2020 And the details of the 2017 arrest at its center raise questions about what police can reasonably divine from the body language of black residents. — Gal Tziperman Lotan, BostonGlobe.com, "High court again contemplates issues of race and policing," 10 Jan. 2020 The ancient Greeks believed its smoke could be used to divine the future; Christians saw those vapors as a visible representation of prayers rising to God. — April Long, Town & Country, "Why Frankincense Is Suddenly So Smoking Hot," 5 Dec. 2019 But to pretend that divining their intent is the only acceptable way to interpret the Constitution—which was the subtext for much of the argument before the Judiciary Committee last week—is to court interpretive trouble. — Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker, "The Trump Impeachment Hearings and Justice Antonin Scalia," 9 Dec. 2019 Another 5 percent attributed the changes to divine will. — Anchorage Daily News, "Poll: Americans broadly accept climate science, but many are fuzzy on the details," 9 Dec. 2019 Rogers looks past Vogel’s sarcasm, almost divining the writer’s private pain. — Armond White, National Review, "Christian Faith Is the Missing Ingredient in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," 29 Nov. 2019 Thus, the parties need not use divining tools to extrapolate from those orders what does or does not constitute non-compliance. — Eliott C. Mclaughlin, CNN, "Federal judge: Let doctors into child migrant detention centers, quickly," 30 June 2019 Unlike other pop success stories that critics later fumbled over themselves to ascribe meaning to, or to divine meaning beneath during the more pop-friendly critical environs of the 2000s, Hootie remained unloved, if thought of at all. — Jon Caramanica, New York Times, "Hootie & the Blowfish, Great American Rock Band (Yes, Really)," 6 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'divine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.