be·at·i·tude

(bē-ăt′ĭ-to͞od′, -tyo͞od′)

1. Supreme blessedness or happiness.

2. Beatitude Any of the declarations of blessedness made by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

3. Beatitude Used as a title and form of address for a patriarch in the Armenian Church or a metropolitan in the Russian Orthodox Church: Your Beatitude.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin beātitūdō, from beātus, happy; see beatific.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

beatitude

(bɪˈætɪˌtjuːd)

1. supreme blessedness or happiness

2. (Eastern Church (Greek & Russian Orthodox)) an honorific title of the Eastern Christian Church, applied to those of patriarchal rank

[C15: from Latin beātitūdō, from beātus blessed; see beatific]

Beatitude

(bɪˈætɪˌtjuːd)

(Bible) New Testament any of eight distinctive sayings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–11) in which he declares that the poor, the meek, those that mourn, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure of heart, those that thirst for justice, and those that are persecuted will, in various ways, receive the blessings of heaven

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

be•at•i•tude

(biˈæt ɪˌtud, -ˌtyud)

n.

1. supreme blessedness; exalted happiness.

2. (often cap.) any of the declarations of blessedness pronounced by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

[1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin beātitūdō perfect happiness =beāti- (see beatific) + -tūdō -tude]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	beatitude - a state of supreme happiness beatification, blessedness happiness, felicity - state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy nirvana, enlightenment - (Hinduism and Buddhism) the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness
	2.	Beatitude - one of the eight sayings of Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount; in Latin each saying begins with `beatus' (blessed); "her favorite Beatitude is `Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth'" locution, saying, expression - a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations; "pardon the expression" Sermon on the Mount - the first major discourse delivered by Jesus (Matthew 5-7 and Luke 6:20-49)

beatitude

noun

A condition of supreme well-being and good spirits:

blessedness, bliss, cheer, cheerfulness, felicity, gladness, happiness, joy, joyfulness.

Translations

beatitudine

beatitude

[biːˈætɪtjuːd] N → beatitud f
the Beatitudes → las Bienaventuranzas

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

beatitude

n → Glückseligkeit f; the Beatitudes (Bibl) → die Seligpreisungen pl

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature

But then the Church came to the front, with an axe to grind; and she was wise, subtle, and knew more than one way to skin a cat -- or a nation; she invented "divine right of kings," and propped it all around, brick by brick, with the Beatitudes -- wrenching them from their good purpose to make them fortify an evil one; she preached (to the commoner) humility, obedience to superiors, the beauty of self-sacrifice; she preached

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Hermon in the north--the table-lands of Bashan--Safed, the holy city, gleaming white upon a tall spur of the mountains of Lebanon--a steel-blue corner of the Sea of Galilee--saddle-peaked Hattin, traditional "Mount of Beatitudes" and mute witness brave fights of the Crusading host for Holy Cross--these fill up the picture.

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Not till I had repeated the Blessings' (he meant the Buddhist Beatitudes) 'did I achieve calm.

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He ceased; and there arose from the little buzzing creature a tiny, low, monotonous, but distinct tinkling, as from one of your Spaceland phonographs, from which I caught these words, "Infinite beatitude of existence!

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God willed, no doubt, to open to this elect the treasures of eternal beatitude, at this hour when other men tremble with the idea of being severely received by the Lord, and cling to this life they know, in the dread of the other life of which they get but merest glimpses by the dismal murky torch of death.

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She stayed till Hannah came to take her home to dinner, but she had no appetite, and could only sit and smile upon everyone in a general state of beatitude.

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It took her but an instant to bend her face and kiss him, and something in the manner of it, and in the way her hands clasped and locked his head while he felt the cool charity and virtue of her lips, something in all this beatitude somehow answered everything.

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I affirm that he shared the general beatitude, and that, quite the reverse of La Fontaine, who, at the presentation of his comedy of the "Florentine," asked, "Who is the ill-bred lout who made that rhapsody?" Gringoire would gladly have inquired of his neighbor, "Whose masterpiece is this?"

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You have it in your power to raise two human beings from a state of actual suffering to such unspeakable beatitude as only generous, noble, self-forgetting love can give (for you can love me if you will); you may tell me that you scorn and detest me, but, since you have set me the example of plain speaking, I will answer that I do not believe you.

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Here is Gregson coming down the road with beatitude written upon every feature of his face.

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In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady Mrs Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking beatitude; all old inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott, and frequenters of this retreat.

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The prince had confessed unreservedly to himself that the feeling of intense beatitude in that crowded moment made the moment worth a lifetime.

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