god S1 W1 /ɡɒd $ ɡɑːd/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ]
1 . God the spirit or ↑ being who Christians, Jews, Muslims etc pray to, and who they believe created the universe:
Prayer is a way of talking to God.
► In this sense, God is written with a capital letter and without ‘the’ : We asked God (NOT the God) to help us. Expressions containing the word God such as oh my God are common in spoken English but can offend religious people.
2 . [countable] a male spirit or ↑ being who is believed by some religions to control the world or part of it, or who represents a particular quality ⇨ goddess
god of
Mars, the god of war
Roman/Greek etc god
Zeus was one of the most well-known Greek gods.
3 . God’s gift to somebody/something someone who thinks they are perfect or extremely attractive – used to show disapproval:
Paul thinks he’s God’s gift to women.
4 . [countable] someone who is admired very much:
To his fans he is a god.
5 . [countable] something which you give too much importance or respect to:
Money became his god.
6 . the gods
a) the force that some people believe controls their lives, bringing them good or bad luck:
The gods are against us.
b) British English informal old-fashioned the seats high up and at the back of a theatre
7 . God/oh (my) God/good God/God almighty spoken used to emphasize what you are saying, when you are surprised, annoyed, or amused:
Oh God, how embarrassing!
8 . for God’s sake spoken used to emphasize something you are saying when you are annoyed:
For God’s sake, shut up!
9 . I swear/hope/wish/pray to God spoken used to emphasize that you promise, hope etc that something is true:
I hope to God nothing goes wrong.
10 . God forbid (that) spoken used to say that you very much hope that something will not happen:
God forbid that this should ever happen again.
11 . God (only) knows spoken
a) used to show that you are annoyed because you do not know something, or because you think that something is unreasonable
God (only) knows who/what/how etc
God knows what she’s doing in there.
b) used to emphasize what you are saying:
God knows, it hasn’t been easy.
12 . what/how/where/who in God’s name spoken used to emphasize a question when you are angry or surprised:
Where in God’s name have you been?
13 . God help you/him etc spoken used to warn someone that something bad will happen:
God help you if you spill anything on the carpet.
14 . God help us spoken said humorously when you think that something bad is going to happen:
‘Simon’s doing the cooking.’ ‘God help us!’
15 . honest to God spoken used to emphasize that you are not lying or joking:
Honest to God, I didn’t tell her!
16 . God willing spoken used to say that you hope there will be no problems:
We’ll be moving next month, God willing.
17 . God bless spoken used to say that you hope someone will be safe and happy, especially when you are saying goodbye:
Good night and God bless.
18 . God give me strength! spoken used when you are becoming annoyed
19 . there is a God! spoken said when someone is explaining that something very good happened to them at a time when they thought that their situation was very bad:
In walked four gorgeous, blond Swedish boys, and I thought, ‘There is a God!’
20 . God rest his/her soul ( also God rest him/her ) spoken old use used to show respect when speaking about someone who is dead
21 . by God spoken old use used to emphasize how determined or surprised you are
⇨ there but for the grace of God at ↑ grace 1 (6), ⇨ in the lap of the gods at ↑ lap 1 (6), ⇨ play God at ↑ play 1 (8), ⇨ thank God/goodness/heavens at ↑ thank (2)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ believe in God
Do you believe in God?
▪ pray to God
They prayed to God for forgiveness.
▪ worship God (=show love and respect for God)
Hinduism tells everyone to worship God in his own faith.
▪ praise God
They came to the church to praise God.
▪ God exists
I believe that God exists.
■ phrases
▪ belief/faith in God
About one-third of the population has no belief in God.
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Her faith in God helped her deal with her illness.
▪ God’s will/the will of God (=what God wants to happen)
He believed it was God’s will that they should suffer.
▪ Almighty God/God Almighty (=used to emphasize God's power)
He swore by Almighty God to tell the truth.
▪ the word of God (=what God says)
Missionaries traveled the world to tell people the word of God.
▪ a gift from God
Life is a gift from God.
▪ God’s existence/the existence of God
Philosophers argued about the existence of God.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ god a male spirit or being who is believed by some religions to control the world or part of it, or who represents a particular quality:
Odin was the Viking god of war.
▪ goddess a female god:
Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon
▪ deity a god. Deity is more formal than god :
a Hindu deity
|
Roman deities
|
the Supreme Deity
▪ idol a picture or statue that people pray to as a god:
a bronze idol
■ someone who does not believe in God
▪ atheist noun , adjective someone who believes that God does not exist:
I’m a confirmed atheist.
▪ agnostic noun , adjective someone who believes that people cannot know whether God exists or not:
He was an agnostic rather than an atheist.