Vishnu

[ vish-noo ]

noun

, Hinduism.

1. (in later Hinduism) “the Preserver,” the second member of the Trimurti, along with Brahma the Creator and Shiva the Destroyer.
2. (in popular Hinduism) a deity believed to have descended from heaven to earth in several incarnations, or avatars, varying in number from nine to twenty-two, but always including animals. His most important human incarnation is the Krishna of the Bhagavad-Gita.
3. “the Pervader,” one of a half-dozen solar deities in the Rig-Veda, daily traversing the sky in three strides, morning, afternoon, and night.

Vishnu

/ ˈvɪʃnuː /

noun

1. Hinduism the Pervader or Sustainer: originally a solar deity occupying a secondary place in the Hindu pantheon; later one of the three chief gods, the second member of the Trimurti; and, later still, the saviour appearing in many incarnations

Vishnu

1. A deity of Hinduism , known as the Preserver. According to the Hindus, he has appeared as Krishna and as the Buddha .

Derived Forms

• ˈVishnuˌism, noun

Other Words From

• Vishnu·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Vishnu¹

From the Sanskrit word viṣṇu

Word History and Origins

Origin of Vishnu¹

C17: from Sanskrit Viṣṇu, literally: the one who works everywhere

Example Sentences

Elsewhere, Vishnu Sridharan and I have called this the difference between offering “natural” and “created” reasons.

From Salon

In one origin story, the king, Hiranyakashipu, ordered everyone in his kingdom to worship him and was irked when his own son Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, disobeyed his command.

From Seattle Times

Kings were long considered reincarnations of the god Vishnu in the majority-Hindu nation.

From Seattle Times

His skin is blue, at once chilly but also the color of divine favor, from Hinduism’s Vishnu to Christianity’s mantle for the Virgin Mary.

From Los Angeles Times

We grow up to discover there are names in every culture for that — yin and yang, the Apollonian and Dionysian, Vishnu and Shiva, thesis and antithesis, the law of contraries, the dialectic.

From New York Times