Word of the Day Archive
Saturday April 19, 2003
sacrosanct \SAK-roh-sankt\
, adjective:
1. Extremely sacred or inviolable.
2. Not to be entered or trespassed upon.
3. Above or beyond criticism, change, or interference.
The family was viewed as sacrosanct: divorce was highly unusual and children were expected to be grateful for the sacrifices that parents, who postponed their own gratifications in forming a family, made on their behalf.
-- Alan Wolfe, One Nation, After All
Espionage is about redefining Good and Evil, the violable and the sacrosanct.
-- Edward Shirley, Know Thine Enemy
In the good old days, things seemed simpler -- film was smart, television was dumb. Television would rot your brains, make your children fat, ruin your family by filling the sacrosanct dinner hour with "Happy Days" reruns.
-- Mary McNamara, "TV: It's good for you", Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2009
Sacrosanct comes from Latin sacrosanctus, "consecrated with religious ceremonies, hence holy, sacred," from sacrum, "religious rite" (from sacer, "holy") + sanctus, "consecrated," from sancire, "to make sacred by a religious act."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for sacrosanct
