BLESS Synonyms: 117 Similar and Opposite Words

bless

verb

ˈbles

Definition of bless

as in to consecrate

to make holy through prayers or ritual the priest blessed the water, thus allowing it to be used as holy water for various rites

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to celebrate

to proclaim the glory of bless the name of God

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to gift

to furnish freely or naturally with some power, quality, or attribute blessed with a knack for glib conversation

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of bless Vietnamese labor unions were in the thick of it, both blessed by the largess and cursed by the exploitative system. — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 24 Aug. 2026 When Mother Nature blesses the area with heavy snow, tee up for a day of skiing at nearby Windham and Hunter mountains, post up with s’mores in front of the fire pits on the property, or unwind in its Finnish-style sauna. — Lori Keong, Architectural Digest, 20 Aug. 2026 Ritual gifts include incense, flowers, perfume, cosmetics and soap, which Hor said are believed to bring beauty and charm after being blessed by the cowherd and seven maidens. — ABC News, 19 Aug. 2026 The jokers Toth and Jackson, bless them, keep things endearing and funny. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for bless

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bless

Verb

The King’s wife, Queen Mette-Marit, is also expected to be consecrated during the ceremony.

— Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 28 Aug. 2026
Still, there were only eight African Anglican clergy in Kenya by 1920, and the first Kenyan bishops would not be consecrated until 1955.

— Stephanie TriplettAll, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of consecrate

Verb

With 33 seconds left in Round 9, Itauma’s trainer Ben Davison threw in the towel, leaving Hrgović to celebrate making history.

— Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2026
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images Jenner, who just celebrated her 29th birthday on August 10, announced the non-pregnancy news in an interview with WhoWhatWear.

— Marzia Nicolini, Vanity Fair, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of celebrate

Verb

Her philanthropy centered heavily on her home region, from the Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library, a book gifting program that mails free books to children, to disaster relief and education initiatives.

— Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 28 Aug. 2026
Parton, who died Tuesday at 80, was the consummate business executive behind Dollywood, the mastermind behind a book-gifting program, the philanthropic giant whose donation helped spur the Moderna vaccine for the coronavirus.

— Ethan Beck, Washington Post, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of gift

Verb

In the months leading up to the eclipse Charles had dedicated precious down time to prepare his team and test new software for the solar telescopes.

— Anthony Wood, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2026
Indie film stalwart Neil LaBute is set to receive a career honor at the Oldenburg International Film Festival, which will dedicate a retrospective to the American filmmaker and playwright and host the world premiere of his latest film, Murderous.

— Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of dedicate

Verb

The scholar of religion Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900) noticed that many Vedic hymns praise different deities using the same superlatives and ascribe to them the same mythological feats.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Aug. 2026
Head coach Willie Simmons praised his team’s athleticism and talent through fall camp, while emphasizing the X’s and O’s with the season opener approaching.

— Alejandro Hernandez, Miami Herald, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of praise

Verb

The show was considered an outlier in its generally sympathetic take on Hill and his conservative views, as well as in terms of the agency with which the show’s creators endowed its working- and middle-class characters.

— Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Aug. 2026
Waqf— an irrevocable endowment under Islamic law — can endow health, education, and other public goods over generations; they can’t be dismantled unlike government aid budgets.

— Alaa Murabit, STAT, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of endow

Verb

Guns became sacred, and violence was increasingly justified, if not sanctified.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 25 Aug. 2026
The church has always preached that humans are created in God’s image; by assuming the messy fragility of human form, God’s son sanctified human experience.

— Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of sanctify

Verb

Yet, these grounds were hallowed to the African American community.

— Chip Colwell, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2025
In a new political environment in which none of the new leaders could claim to be revolutionary founding fathers, Deng’s blessing hallowed Jiang and Hu and helped ensure that each survived the vicissitudes of succession politics.

— Jonathan A. Czin, Foreign Affairs, 21 Oct. 2025

Definition of hallow

Browse Nearby Words

blend (with)

bless

blessed

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Style

“Bless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bless. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of bless

verb

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