as in pious
showing a devotion to God and to a life of virtue
a saintly man who devoted his life to caring for the dying
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of saintly
Culkin’s chief rival Norton, who plays the banjo and sings as the saintly folk hero Pete Seeger, has not summoned a win yet.
—
Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 26 Feb. 2025
The relics of the monastery’s saintly founder were on view for public veneration.
—Therese Cory, The Conversation, 28 Jan. 2025
The saintly and spinsterish nurse Enid spends three sleepless days and nights soul-searching, deciding whether to report a murderer or to pursue a future with him.
—The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
In the show’s first two seasons, Laura’s murder broke open a placid American town—much as a severed ear, in Lynch’s 1986 film, Blue Velvet, famously undermined middle America’s saintly image of itself.
—K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for saintly
Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 26 Feb. 2025
The relics of the monastery’s saintly founder were on view for public veneration.
—Therese Cory, The Conversation, 28 Jan. 2025
The saintly and spinsterish nurse Enid spends three sleepless days and nights soul-searching, deciding whether to report a murderer or to pursue a future with him.
—The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025
In the show’s first two seasons, Laura’s murder broke open a placid American town—much as a severed ear, in Lynch’s 1986 film, Blue Velvet, famously undermined middle America’s saintly image of itself.
—K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for saintly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for saintly
Adjective
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The baron and his pious daughter seem at peace with their mutual estrangement until Zsa-zsa suddenly decides to break that habit.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
18 May 2025
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But while the main character’s mother in that movie was an antagonistic figure, Fatima’s parents are portrayed as kind, not dogmatic or ostentatiously pious.—
Jon Frosch,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2025
Adjective
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Bure became a devout Christian at the age of 12 and has remained outspoken about her religious beliefs and conservative political opinions.—
Ryan Coleman,
EW.com,
11 June 2025
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One such soul was Madeline Buol (1902–1986), a devout Catholic and beauty shop owner living in Dubuque, IA, right across the Mississippi River from Dickeyville.—
Chadd Scott,
Forbes.com,
7 June 2025
Adjective
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At a religious forum in Nairobi this month, Ruto called upon church leaders to encourage youth members to take up overseas job opportunities, part of a wider strategy to meet his administration’s official target of sending 1 million Kenyans per year overseas.—
Martin K.N Siele,
semafor.com,
20 June 2025
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The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but served a plainly religious purpose.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
20 June 2025
Adjective
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Benedict, the Pope emeritus, took a role in the ceremony; some half million devotees of the two sainted Popes filled the piazza and the streets adjoining the Vatican.—
Paul Elie,
New Yorker,
21 Apr. 2025
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That’s when Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft , Nvidia and Tesla divorced themselves from the rest of the market — or, more accurately, the big institutions filed for divorce on behalf of the sainted seven.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
16 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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In this environment, the billion-dollar unicorn model, the holy grail of startup success for decades, no longer feels viable for many founders.—
Wayne Liu,
Forbes.com,
9 June 2025
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This soothing moisturizer is my holy grail, and PEOPLE readers can try it now for 20 percent off with the code DDM20 at checkout.—
Rachel Trujillo,
People.com,
6 June 2025
Adjective
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Fans of ’20s jazz will detect reverent references to the styles of Helen Morgan, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and other jazz grants.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
30 Apr. 2025
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The magazine saw itself as literary but not self-serious; if the stereotypical National Geographic story was a walk through the jungle recounted in hushed, awed tones, its Outside equivalent was a little dustier, wilder, and less reverent.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
18 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Saintly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/saintly. Accessed 26 Jun. 2025.
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