divine

Divine is a word used as an adjective, a verb, and a noun with several related senses. As an adjective, it means of or relating to a god or gods, sacred, holy, or of godlike quality. In everyday English it can also describe something exceptionally delightful or beautiful. As a verb, to divine means to discover or perceive something by insight or supernatural means; in older usage, to foretell or predict by occult methods.

Etymology traces the adjective to Latin divinus, meaning “of a god,” from divus “god,” via Old French divin and Middle English. The verb form comes from Old French deviner “to divine,” from Latin divinare “to foretell,” and is historically related to the same root though it traveled through different linguistic paths. The two senses—divine as sacred and divine as foreknowledge—are linked by a shared connotation of supernatural or transcendent knowledge.

In religious contexts, the Divine with a capital D often denotes God or a supreme being, or refers to sacred revelation or the divine will. The term is used in theology to discuss divine attributes, divine law, and divine action in the world. In literature and broader culture, it appears in titles such as Dante’s Divine Comedy and is used as an epithet for persons or works regarded as extraordinarily excellent.

Related terms include divinity, deity, divination, and sacred. The distinction between the everyday sense of “divine” (wonderful) and the theological sense centers on reference to the divine or to supernatural knowledge.