blessed, devoted, hallowed, saintly, consecrated, divine, sacred, set apart.
_Sacred_ is applied to that which is to be regarded as inviolable on any account, and so is not restricted to divine things; therefore in its lower applications it is less than _holy_. That which is _sacred_ may be made so by institution, decree, or association; that which is _holy_ is so by its own nature, possessing intrinsic moral purity, and, in the highest sense, absolute moral perfection. God is _holy_; his commands are _sacred_. _Holy_ may be applied also to that which is _hallowed_; as, "the place whereon thou standest is _holy_ ground," _Ex._ iii, 5. In such use _holy_ is more than _sacred_, as if the very qualities of a spiritual or divine presence were imparted to the place or object. _Divine_ has been used with great looseness, as applying to anything eminent or admirable, in the line either of goodness or of mere power, as to eloquence, music, etc., but there is a commendable tendency to restrict the word to its higher sense, as designating that which belongs to or is worthy of the Divine Being. Compare PERFECT; PURE.
abominable, cursed, polluted, unconsecrated, unholy, wicked, common, impure, secular, unhallowed, unsanctified, worldly.
abode, dwelling, habitation, hearthstone, ingleside, domicil, fireside, hearth, house, residence.
_Abode_, _dwelling_, and _habitation_ are used with little difference of meaning to denote the place where one habitually lives; _abode_ and _habitation_ belong to the poetic or elevated style. Even _dwelling_ is not used in familiar speech; a person says "my _house_," "my _home_," or more formally "my _residence_." _Home_, from the Anglo-Saxon, denoting originally a _dwelling_, came to mean an endeared _dwelling_ as the scene of domestic love and happy and cherished family life, a sense to which there is an increasing tendency to restrict the word--desirably so, since we have other words to denote the mere dwelling-place; we say "The wretched tenement could not be called _home_," or "The humble cabin was dear to him as the _home_ of his childhood."
_Home_'s not merely four square walls, Tho with pictures hung and gilded; _Home_ is where affection calls-- Where its shrine the heart has builded.