deity - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle French deité, from Latin deitās.

deity (countable and uncountable, plural deities)

  1. Synonym of divinity: the state, position, or fact of being a god. [from 14th c.]
  2. A supernatural divine being; a god or goddess. [from 14th c.]
    • 1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page 15:
      The fact that in most lands the moon was originally a female deity has led many historians to dispute the superiority of the moon over the sun in ancient mythology.
    • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 209:
      Every act of a Roman, from birth to death, from dawn to night, was controlled and supervised by some presiding deity.
    • 2000, Kenneth Seeskin, Searching for a Distant God: The Legacy of Maimonides, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 23:
      The crux of monotheism is not only belief in a single deity but belief in a deity who is different from everything else.

a god or goddess — see also god,‎ God

  1. ^ The American Heritage Book of English Usage: A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 1996, →ISBN