How to Use holy water in a Sentence

holy water

noun
  • His sense of humor is just the holy water to my hot mess.
    — Staff Author, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Every iconic sports town has its holy water.
    — Angela Hansberger, AJC.com, 25 June 2026
  • This is a bad matchup for the Steelers offense, holy water or not.
    — Hank Gola, New York Daily News, 9 Jan. 2026
  • The parents asked Fisher to say a prayer and bless the child with holy water.
    — Jonathan D. Fitzgerald, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Mar. 2021
  • Legend holds that a dip in the holy waters will cleanse them of sins and grant salvation.
    — Kyra Colah, Fox News, 8 Feb. 2025
  • This time, Hughes refused the holy water; prayers would have to do.
    — David Howard, Popular Mechanics, 30 Aug. 2020
  • Like holy water touching a demon.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2026
  • Once there, the red shoes were sprinkled with holy water and small crosses were painted over their toes.
    — Kay Johnson, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2025
  • Yes, a priest or friar will come by each car or bike and bless the deceased’s picture with holy water.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Oct. 2022
  • The healing quality of holy water is the formal source of this work.
    — Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Oct. 2023
  • With lower stakes and safer ships, holy water and blood were soon replaced with Champagne.
    — Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Nov. 2024
  • On the night before the funeral, the pope's body is blessed with holy water and a white silk cloth is placed over his face.
    — George Petras, USA Today, 23 Apr. 2025
  • People deposited coins in a slot that pressed on a metal valve, and released holy water.
    — Sean Mowbray, Discover Magazine, 13 Sep. 2022
  • Throngs of devotees take a dip in the holy waters in the belief that doing so will purge them of sins and grant them salvation.
    — Atul Loke, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2025
  • When the devil turns into a rerun, that robs him of his power faster than dunking him in a barrel of holy water.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 20 June 2024
  • Some of the dead were families from outside the area that had come to take nearby holy waters, said a resident.
    — Meg Kelly, Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Volunteers brought eggs, cakes and, two days before the holiday, holy water.
    — New York Times, 24 Apr. 2022
  • The cat put its two front paws on the edge of the holy water dish, bent its head and started slurping up the water as fast as possible.
    — Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Apr. 2025
  • Cook those coin-bugs belly-side down, and make sure to swing your jar of holy water through several ghosts to get the creamiest sorbet.
    — Margaret Lyons, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024
  • Laid on top of the eerie beats that have become the norm in his hometown, his raps cast a spell that can only be broken with a splash of holy water.
    — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 2 Jan. 2024
  • Each volador takes a turn walking around the tree with the incense and flowers, and sprinkling it with holy water and aguardiente.
    — Leila Miller, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2023
  • The nuns prostrated themselves in prayer, and Father Miguel doused us all in holy water.
    — Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
  • Two priests stood like marble cliffs at the edge of the altar, tossing holy water into the air to bless the many objects flung toward them.
    — Kayla Aletha Welch, Longreads, 19 Nov. 2024
  • The Herrmann’s bottle of holy water tipped over for no apparent reason.
    — Sophie Hanson, Harper's BAZAAR, 4 Aug. 2022
  • Smith and Linney have the film’s best scene together, when Lily visits the baths filled with holy water at the shrine.
    — Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 July 2023
  • Pilgrims would eagerly await the ukukus, backs bent from the weight of the ice, who would place the blocks along the pathway to the temple, to be used as holy water.
    — New York Times, 26 Oct. 2020
  • Monks who lived in a nearby monastery where both Merianos and her two daughters were baptized would come to pray for her, bless her, and bring her holy water.
    — Danielle Campoamor, Woman's Day, 3 Aug. 2020
  • Regula offered a few words to the family before dousing the objects with holy water.
    — Brieanna J. Frank, The Arizona Republic, 30 June 2020
  • She was said to be so rambunctious on the ride to the Warren’s house in Monroe that Ed had to douse her in holy water.
    — Pamela McLoughlin, Hartford Courant, 12 Aug. 2025
  • Before ascending, Turull pauses at an enormous seashell — a real one, not made of stone — that serves as a basin for holy water.
    — ABC News, 9 June 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'holy water.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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