holy land

American  

[hoh-lee land] / ˈhoʊ li ˌlænd /

noun

1. a territory regarded as sacred or having special religious significance for a particular group.

2. the Holy Land, the area corresponding to ancient Palestine, containing sites of special religious significance to Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

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Holy Land British  

noun

1. another name for Palestine

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Other Word Forms

• holy-land adjective

Example Sentences

Holy Week began with a clash in the Holy Land as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Italian Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, was denied entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by Israeli authorities in what he called a first "in centuries".

From Barron's

But there are also religious motivations: Jews who fear persecution and support a Jewish state; mainstream Christians raised with a general fondness for the Holy Land and sense of kinship with Jews; fundamentalists who believe that the Scripture literally commands the support of Israel; Pentecostal-style Christians who feel a kind of radical rootedness to Israel; and evangelicals who believe that the world’s Jews must return to Israel to trigger Jesus’ second coming and the end of days.

From Slate

It was the first of more than 100 trips to the country, many of them with a tour company he ran that organized pilgrimages for tens of thousands of other evangelicals looking to strengthen their connection to the Holy Land.

From The Wall Street Journal

One tourist from Russia, Angelica, is on her second pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

From BBC

For fellow Brussels local Michel Elias, however, the artwork allowed him to reflect on contemporary goings-on in the Holy Land.

From Barron's