English▸ adjective connected with God or a god or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration:
sacred rites
the site at Eleusis is sacred to Demeter.
▪ religious rather than secular:
sacred music.
▪ (of writing or text) embodying the laws or doctrines of a religion:
a sacred Hindu text.
▪ regarded with great respect and reverence by a particular religion, group, or individual:
cows are sacred and the eating of beef is taboo.
▪ regarded as too valuable to be interfered with; sacrosanct:
a profit-oriented public to whom nothing is sacred.
– ORIGIN late Middle English: past participle of archaic sacre ‘consecrate’, from Old French sacrer, from Latin sacrare, from sacer, sacr- ‘holy’.