1
as in purging
to free from moral guilt or blemish especially ceremonially
received the sacrament of penance, whereby they were sanctified and restored to divine grace
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in blessing
to make holy through prayers or ritual
sanctify the bread for Communion
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sanctifying
To say that the Union was sacred and the touchstone of democracy was to strengthen slavery by sanctifying the state that protected it.
—
Dominic Erdozain,
Time,
3 July 2026
But far from celebrating or sanctifying the throwing off of English rule, the story’s shocking ending portrays the patriots as a fiendish mob, and casts doubt on the bedrock American faith in prosperity.
—
John Swansburg,
The Atlantic,
15 June 2026
For King, defending a people did not mean sanctifying a state.
—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
15 Feb. 2026
An overexposed photo shows Miralba from the torso up, looking into a white sky, with a ray of light almost sanctifying her face.
—
Camila Osorio,
New Yorker,
17 Jan. 2026
These are the kinds of faces O’Rourke foregrounds, similarly centering the quotidian to sanctifying effect.
—
Catherine Bray,
Variety,
17 Dec. 2025
Dominic Erdozain,
Time,
3 July 2026
But far from celebrating or sanctifying the throwing off of English rule, the story’s shocking ending portrays the patriots as a fiendish mob, and casts doubt on the bedrock American faith in prosperity.
—
John Swansburg,
The Atlantic,
15 June 2026
For King, defending a people did not mean sanctifying a state.
—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
15 Feb. 2026
An overexposed photo shows Miralba from the torso up, looking into a white sky, with a ray of light almost sanctifying her face.
—
Camila Osorio,
New Yorker,
17 Jan. 2026
These are the kinds of faces O’Rourke foregrounds, similarly centering the quotidian to sanctifying effect.
—
Catherine Bray,
Variety,
17 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sanctifying
Verb
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Lower courts have ruled against Arizona’s method of purging voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
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Here was a symbolic way of purging Hindu society of untouchability.
Verb
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By visiting the Basilica and blessing the new tower, the pope follows in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI who in 2010 consecrated the Sagrada Familia.
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Jimmy Fallon has been blessing the New York Knicks with good humor for decades.
Verb
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But yesterday, the group defied Pope Leo XIV by consecrating four bishops without his approval.
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Under the church’s in-house canon law, consecrating a bishop without papal consent incurs an automatic excommunication for both the people administering the consecration and the bishops receiving it.
Cite this Entry
“Sanctifying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sanctifying. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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