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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Recent Examples of saintly
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
With saintly patience, my P.T. informed me that my shin bone was in great shape.
—Amy X. Wang, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for saintly
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
With saintly patience, my P.T. informed me that my shin bone was in great shape.
—Amy X. Wang, New York Times, 14 Jan. 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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Both have engendered a loyalty in their audiences which verges on the religious.—
Eric Lach,
New Yorker,
8 June 2025
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The plaintiffs -- which included a group of Arkansas voters and the Christian Ministerial Alliance, a religious organization based in Little Rock -- argued the map weakens the weight of Black voters residing in southeast Pulaski County.—
Alex Thomas,
Arkansas Online,
7 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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The cyberpunk chaos spirals into shoot-outs with telekinesis and giant mutant babies, all of it spectacular and ingrained in reverent filmmakers’ memories.—
Kambole Campbell,
Vulture,
25 Apr. 2025
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Of course, Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron is still a reverent work, leaving out a few messier strands of the man’s life that Miyazaki-heads might be curious about.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
12 Sep. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Saintly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/saintly. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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