holy place
14
3.5
- noun
:
lugar sagrado
- The Cathedral of Notre Dame is a holy place where many people come to pray.
- Christian holy place
- holy places of Mecca
- holy places of Islam
No man's foot must ever touch the soil of the tombs, the holy place.
- No man's foot must ever touch the soil of the tombs, the holy place.
Examples
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For thousands of years, this temple was a holy place of worship.
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How dare you come back to this holy place?
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"Send her help from the holy place, Lord."
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Get out of this holy place.
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When I played in this garden as a child, I thought it was a holy place.
Fiction book (1997) -
What is this holy place, the temple exactly?
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When he made up his mind to visit the holy places in Rome, he met with no objections.
Fiction book (2000) -
May wherever you reside be a holy place because of your presence.
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Removing our shoes and entering a holy place became an invitation to sit, breathe, chant, and pray.
Academic text (2005) -
Pilgrimages to holy places.
Synonyms
126
4.1
A holy place where people go to pray and honor a saint or sacred object
55
5.5
A holy part of a religious building around the altar
14
2.9
A place where people meet to pray or have religious services
13
8.7
A holy place where people go to worship or pray
11
2.9
A building where people gather for prayer or religious services
9
3.1
A building where people gather to pray, like a church
2
9.2
A sacred area in or near a mosque that has strict rules about behaviour
1
3.8
A building where people meet to pray together
1
7.0
A very old place where people worship, often visited for religious reasons
A place or thing that people treat as too sacred to change
How Sacred
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a place considered sacred' is directly and transparently composed from 'holy' (sacred/divine) + 'place' (location), so a learner who knows both words can infer the MWE meaning. This is a regular compositional noun phrase pattern found across languages, making it immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.
Etymology
Holy place comes from the simple image of a holy 'sacred' place set apart for prayer and ceremonies, where people show respect by removing shoes or visiting as pilgrims. So, holy place means a spot people treat with deep respect for religious acts.