Anointed

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əˈnɔɪn.tɪd/

Definitions

1. Designated for a significant role or responsibility through a sacred or formal ceremony
2. Marked by a sacred ritual as selected for an important duty
3. Officially designated through a religious or formal blessing for leadership

Etymology: "Anointed" is the past form of "anoint", which came into Middle English as "enointen" or "anointen" from Old French, where the past participle "enoint" belonged to the verb "enoindre". Old French had formed that verb from Latin "inungere", meaning "to smear on" or "to rub in", built from "in-" and "ungere", "to smear with oil or ointment". The English word therefore keeps the physical act at its core: rubbing a substance onto something. The word has a close relative that came into English by a different path. "Inunct", meaning to rub with ointment, was taken directly from the Latin, so the two words are doublets, two forms of one Latin root that arrived by separate routes. "Anoint" is the one that picked up religious weight, and it is the form used for the ritual application of holy oil that gave the word its sacred sense.

Synonyms: consecrated, ordained, blessed, appointed, selected

Antonyms: desecrated, removed, unappointed, disqualified, unselected