How to Use sanctify in a Sentence

sanctify

verb
  • The constitution sanctified the rights of the people.
  • The priest sanctified their marriage.
  • Just a space sanctified by the men who’d bled and died on this ground.
    — John Ganz, Harper's Magazine, 22 May 2024
  • His clear tenor sanctified the songs, gave them a bit of distance from their author.
    — Brendan Fitzgerald, Longreads, 10 Aug. 2020
  • Confined to one gallery with a dozen or so large-scale works, that show felt almost sanctified, as if one were in a chapel.
    — Siobhan Morrissey, miamiherald, 13 Oct. 2017
  • Usually they are found in temples, where water is sanctified by being poured over the top.
    — Simon Willis, Travel + Leisure, 21 Feb. 2023
  • God is so intimately present to his friends, the saints, that their very bodies are sanctified by his presence.
    — Therese Cory, The Conversation, 28 Jan. 2025
  • But months later, the campaign to sanctify Kirk appears to have backfired in some ways.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Jan. 2026
  • For King, defending a people did not mean sanctifying a state.
    — Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 15 Feb. 2026
  • Such saintly behavior aside, one part of Jack that was becoming less sanctified was his body.
    — Dan Koeppel, Outside Online, 5 Sep. 2019
  • In this way, even humble tasks can become a sacramental gesture, sanctified by the divine.
    — Danny Heitman, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Oct. 2017
  • When a couple marry in a church, synagogue or mosque, the ceremony does more than sanctify a union.
    — Peter McGraw, The Conversation, 23 Apr. 2026
  • An ornate metal crucifix in the foreground and a wooden one on the wall behind the couple sanctify the scene.
    — Peter Van Agtmael, Magazine, 8 Dec. 2020
  • Did this reversal of reproduction sanctify the event or displace it?
    — Namwali Serpell, Harper's Magazine, 18 Aug. 2020
  • However, many people have gone too far in sanctifying this advancement.
    — Igor Ryabenkiy, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
  • But the songs — one sanctified, the other low-down — also reflect the remarkable range of Franklin's singing on this deep soul classic.
    — Mikael Wood, latimes.com, 20 Apr. 2018
  • The Kiddush is a blessing to sanctify the beginning of the holiday.
    — Kelsey Hurwitz, Woman's Day, 7 Aug. 2020
  • The move also seems to sanctify Amazon’s role as the dominant interface between brands and users.
    — Ángel González, The Seattle Times, 20 July 2017
  • Contrary to many social mores, milah and niddah attempt to sanctify life, even in the most powerful and intimate realms.
    — Rabbi Avi Weiss, sun-sentinel.com, 28 Mar. 2022
  • The priest at the church, which had been sanctified by the recent arrival of some saintly relics from Rome, tried talking to the demon living in the girl’s body.
    — Matthew Gabriele, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Dec. 2024
  • Then wayward Diana appeared, shielded by stardom and sanctified by early death.
    — Anna Mundow, WSJ, 3 Aug. 2018
  • Indeed to sanctify your memory would be to miss out on the very core of your being, your wonderfully mischievous sense of humor with a laugh that bent you double.
    — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, 31 Aug. 2022
  • Sooner or later, Adani will expand the mine even further—disturbing even the makeshift spot for worship by cutting down the trees sanctified with mud.
    — Kuwar Singh, Quartz India, 24 Oct. 2019
  • This also means the final act plays like a sanctifying highlights reel but the film’s gleeful humor and sharp wit largely keeps this chaotic rollercoaster on its tracks.
    — Leila Latif, IndieWire, 4 Sep. 2024
  • But the coronation sanctifies a monarch’s rule and, through a national celebration, aims to bind the sovereign to the people.
    — Mark Landler, New York Times, 6 May 2023
  • Like much of the first half of the episode, before the plane crash, this gala sequence is shot in silky gold colors, as if John and Carolyn had already been sanctified.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Guests will see priests sanctify the sprawling space on Friday and install new deities on Saturday and Sunday.
    — Jonathan M. Pitts, baltimoresun.com, 28 Apr. 2017
  • One of these states would be Israel, a homeland for Jews in territory sanctified for them by heritage and history.
    — Martin Peretz, WSJ, 8 May 2018
  • These sequences sanctify the historical position that the onerous terms of the treaty are what led to Hitler and the Holocaust.
    — John Anderson, WSJ, 27 Oct. 2022
  • 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

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sanctify.' 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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