Word of the Day: God
The word “God” is always capitalized when it refers to an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful deity that is worshipped all over the world. There are many different names for God, all of which depend on the particular religion, but most of these names refer to the same deity or the same idea. (deity = god)
- A priest is a man of God.
- Churches are built as places to worship God.
- In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. (from Genesis, the opening line in the Bible)
- Muslims call God Allah.
- Jews call God Yahweh.
- An atheist is a person who does not believe in God.
- Do you believe in God?
- Pilgrims in the early 17th century moved to North America in order to worship God according to their faith.
There are many ways in which you’ll hear God mentioned in daily conversation, whether a person is really thinking about God or not:
- I swear to God, I’m telling the truth.
- Honest to God, do you have to do that?
- In the name of God, please stop what you are doing!
- Good God, what happened here?
- I’m going to get through this day, so help me God.
- She was a good person. God rest her soul. (This is said when a person dies.)
- She’s in God’s hands now. (She has died.)
- This is all in God’s hands. (There’s nothing we can do.)
- Only God knows the answer to this question.
- The tornado was an act of God. (act of God = a natural but violent action)
- There but for the grace of God go I. (That poor person could have been me.)
- Camping outside during a heavy thunderstorm will put the fear of God in you.
- God willing, Mario and Lisa want to have as many children as possible. (God willing = if God wills it; if God allows it to happen; it depends on God.)
When the word “god” is not capitalized, it refers to the polytheistic (many gods) approach to religion as it was practiced by the Greeks and the Romans, or it is used to refer to any god.
- Neptune is the god of the oceans.
- Aphrodite is the goddess of love. (goddess = female god)
- We don’t want to make the gods angry.
- Kevin says Vanessa is a goddess. (He thinks she’s very beautiful.)
Essential English Dictionary
Visit the Popular English Words Beginning with G page to see the list of all words starting with letter G. For seeing the HiCafe dictionary, visit the Popular English Words with Meaning page.
