sanct- +

Speaking of or discoursing on holy or sacred things.

A nun or pertaining to holiness.

1. Possessing sanctity, holy in character; sacred, holy, consecrated.
2. Of pretended or assumed sanctity or piety, making a show of sanctity, affecting the appearance of sanctity.

1. Holiness of life and character; the profession of holiness; religiousness, sanctity.
2. Of a writer: chastity or decorum of expression.
3. Pretended, affected or hypocritical holiness or saintliness; assumed or outward sanctity.

Nouns:

1. A law or decree; especially an ecclesiastical decree.
2. In law, extended to include the provision of rewards for obedience, along with punishments for disobedience, to a law (remuneratory, as distinguished from vindicatory or punitive, sanction).
3. The part or clause of a law which declares the penalty attached to infringement. Similarly in a charter.
4. In politics, economic or military action taken by a state or alliance of states against another as a coercive measure; usually to enforce a violated law or treaty.
5. In ethics, a consideration which operates to enforce obedience to any law or rule of conduct; a recognized motive for conformity to moral or religious law, operating either through the agent's desire for some resultant good or through his/her fear of some resultant evil.
6. Binding force given to an oath; something which makes an oath or engagement binding; a solemn oath or engagement.
7. The action of rendering legally authoritative or binding; solemn confirmation or ratification given to a law, enactment, etc. by a supreme authority.
8. An express authoritative permission or recognition (e.g. of an action, procedure, custom, institution, etc.).
9. Now also in a looser sense, countenance or encouragement given (intentionally or otherwise) to an opinion or practice by a person of influence, by custom, public sentiment, etc.
10. Something which serves to support, authorize, or confirm an action, procedure, etc.; a recommendation or testimonial.

Verbs:

1. To ratify or to confirm by sanction or by solemn enactment; to invest with legal or sovereign authority; to make valid or binding.
2. To permit authoritatively; to authorize; in a looser use, it refers to encouraging by expressed or implied approval.
3. To allege sanction for; to justify as permissible.
4. To enforce (a law, legal obligation, etc.) by attaching a penalty for some kind of transgression.
5. To impose sanctions upon (a person or a country), to penalize; that is, an action that is taken or an order that is given to force a country to obey international laws [or by one nation against another nation] by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid, etc.; usually, expressed as "sanctions against" or "imposing sanctions".

Relating to sanctions.

Holiness, knowledge, health.

Motto of Marywood University, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA.

1. Holiness of life, saintliness; the rank of a (canonized) saint.
2. The quality of being sacred or hallowed; sacredness, claim to (religious) reverence; inviolability.
3. Something thought to be sacred.

A shrine.

To afford sanctuary to; to shelter by means of a sanctuary or sacred privileges.

1. A holy place.
2. A building or place set apart for the worship of God or of one or more divinities: applied, e.g., to a Christian church, the Jewish temple and the Mosaic tabernacle, a heathen temple or site of local worship, and the like; also figuratively, to the church or body of believers.
3. Used as a reference to the priestly office or order.
4. Applied to heaven.
5. A specially holy place within a temple or church, as in the Mosaic tabernacle and the Jewish temple: the holy place, including the "Holy of holies"; sometimes applied to the latter only.
6. That part of a church around the altar, the sacrarium; also used by some for the chancel.
7. A piece of consecrated ground; the precincts of a church; a churchyard or cemetery.
8. A church or other sacred place in which, by the law of the mediaeval church, a fugitive from justice, or a debtor, was entitled to immunity from arrest; hence, in a wider sense, applied to any place in which by law or established custom a similar immunity is secured to fugitives.
9. Immunity to arrest afforded by a sanctuary. 10. A place of refuge or asylum; a shelter. 11. An area of land within which (wild) animals or plants are protected from hunting or molestation and encouraged to breed or grow.

1. The "holy place" of the Jewish tabernacle and temple. Also applied to a sacred place or shrine in other temples and churches.
2. A private place, such as an office or home, where one is free from intrusion.

The holy of holies.

A place of utmost privacy and sacredness.

1. The Holy of holies of the Jewish temple and tabernacle. In early use also plural in the same sense.
2. A person's private retreat, where he is free from intrusion; a private place.