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Definition of "holy writ" []

  • The Bible. (noun)
  • Informal A document held to be the most authoritative of its kind. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "holy writ" in a sentence
  • "Nelson’s dictum “No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of an enemy” had become holy writ in the Royal Navy, but Nelson had said it at Trafalgar, when his fleet of sailing ships had physical parity and psychological superiority over the enemy."
  • "From what little I can tell you about them, I’d say that all they’ve done is what everybody does: pick and choose the parts of a holy writ that personally appeal to them, the ones that cause them the least personal discomfort and the ones that appeal to their illuisions about themselves and the world, then pretend to form a sort of spiritual life around that."