sacrosanct

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The Word of the Day for May 7 is:

sacrosanct   \SAK-roh-sankt\   adjective
     1 : most sacred or holy : inviolable
    *2 : treated as if holy : immune from criticism or violation

Example sentence:
     For years the respected scientist's theories were treated as sacrosanct by 
his colleagues, and only recently have his ideas been seriously challenged.

Did you know?
     That which is sacrosanct is doubly sacred: the two Latin components 
underlying the word, "sacro" and "sanctus," were combined long ago to form a 
phrase meaning "hallowed by a sacred rite." "Sacro" means "by a sacred rite" 
and comes from "sacrum," a Latin noun that lives on in English anatomy as the 
name for our pelvic vertebrae -- a shortening of "os sacrum," which literally 
means "holy bone." "Sanctus" means "sacred" and gave us "saint" and obvious 
words like "sanctimony," "sanctify," and "sanctuary."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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