calvary means the hill outside Jerusalem which is traditionally held to be the location of the crucifixion of Jesus. It carries an Arena rating of 1577, earned across 63 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, calvary ranks #291 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,475 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #1,598 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #2,093 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
calvary is pronounced /ˈkæl.v(ə.)ɹi/.
Why “calvary” is a great word
CALVARY — [Name] The hill outside Jerusalem traditionally held to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. From Middle English Calvarie, from Latin calvāria ("skull"), a translation of the Aramaic place name Golgotha. Unlike Golgotha (the original, starkly physical term for "the skull") or cavalry (a homophone of martial clatter and motion), Calvary is the resonant, Latinized vessel freighted with two thousand years of veneration and art. It is the fixed summit in a painting's middle distance, the final station on a pilgrim's path, the weight of a silver pendant against a chest—a geographical point where narrative crystallizes into a permanent, personal metaphor.
Etymology
From Middle English Calvarie, from Latin calvāria (“skull”).
name
- The hill outside Jerusalem which is traditionally held to be the location of the crucifixion of Jesus.
noun
- A life-size representation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on a piece of raised ground.
- A series of representations of Christ’s Passion in a church.
- A type of monumental public Christian cross, sometimes encased in an open shrine.e.g.“Calvaries are typical of Galicia (Spain) and Portugal.”
- A strenuous experience.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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