sacrosanct

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adjective sac·ro·sanct \ ˈsa-krō-ˌsaŋ(k)t \

Definition of sacrosanct

1 :most sacred or holy :inviolable

2 :treated as if holy :immune from criticism or violation

politically sacrosanct programs

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sacrosanctity

play \ˌsa-krō-ˈsaŋ(k)-tə-tē\ noun

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Examples of sacrosanct in a Sentence

the government's most sacrosanct institutions
The tradition is regarded as sacrosanct.

Recent Examples of sacrosanct from the Web

The theatrical window of exclusivity over new movies has long been sacrosanct, in part because Hollywood’s biggest directors and actors value the big screen over television.

— Fortune, "This Map Will Show You the World’s Most Expensive Stock Markets," 19 Aug. 2017
The most serious reminder that royals may be privileged but not sacrosanct came in October when one prince was executed after being found guilty of fatally shooting a man in 2013.

— rick noack, Washington Post, "Saudi prince arrested on King Salman’s order after video appears to show abusive behavior," 20 July 2017
But even with Bannon back in power, his juice may be unlikely to move the needle on the most sacrosanct of Republican legislative topics: asking mega-rich people to pay even a penny more in taxes.

— bess levin, The Hive, "The Mega-Rich Can Breathe Easy! Steve Mnuchin Rushes to Assure Them Trump Won’t Raise Their Taxes," 10 July 2017
The Constitution was written during a time when honor was sacred and the definition of patriotism was universally accepted and sacrosanct.

— rochelle riley, Detroit Free Press, "Should it be harder to run for president?," 8 July 2017
But the Fed fails to recognize that favorable supply-side forces can keep inflation below its sacrosanct 2% target: forces such as increased...

— WSJ, "Don’t Let the 2% Inflation Target Hurt Growth," 23 June 2017
Trump pointedly refused to reaffirm U.S. commitment to NATO's sacrosanct Article Five mutual-defense guarantee at the big Brussels summit last month, only to reaffirm it later, in a stateside venue with no European defense chiefs present.

— chicagotribune.com, "Not dazed, but definitely confused: Allies struggle to divine US policy," 21 June 2017
The Nisqually, Puyallup and Squaxin Island nations view those six handwritten pieces of paper as sacrosanct.

— alicia ault, Smithsonian, "Medicine Creek, the Treaty That Set the Stage for Standing Rock," 9 June 2017
That’s because the profit-margin targets that have been sacrosanct increasingly look like handcuffs.

— shira ovide, The Seattle Times, "Apple’s enviable profit margins might actually be golden handcuffs," 5 June 2017

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

Did You Know?

That which is sacrosanct is doubly sacred: the two Latin components underlying the word, "sacro" and "sanctus," were combined long ago to form a phrase meaning "hallowed by a sacred rite." Sacro means "by a sacred rite" and comes from "sacrum," a Latin noun that lives on in English anatomy as the name for our pelvic vertebrae-a shortening of "os sacrum," which literally means "holy bone." Sanctus means "sacred" and gave us "saint" and obvious words like "sanctimony," "sanctify," and "sanctuary."