covenant
pronunciation
How to pronounce covenant in British English:
UK [ˈkʌvənənt]
How to pronounce covenant in American English:
US [ˈkʌvənənt]
-
- Noun:
- a signed written agreement between two or more parties (nations) to perform some action
- (Bible) an agreement between God and his people in which God makes certain promises and requires certain behavior from them in return
-
- Verb:
- enter into a covenenant
- enter into a covenant or formal agreement
Word Origin
- covenant
- covenant: [13] The notion of ‘agreement’ in covenant comes originally from a literal ‘coming together’. It was borrowed from Old French covenant, a noun use of the present participle of the verb covenir ‘agree’, which was descended from Latin convenire ‘come together’ (source also of English convene, convenient, convention, convent, and coven). (Modern French has restored the n, giving convenir.)=> convenient, convent, convention, coven, venue
- covenant (n.)
- c. 1300, from Old French covenant "agreement," originally present participle of covenir "agree, meet," from Latin convenire "come together" (see convene). Applied in Scripture to God's arrangements with man as a translation of Latin testamentum, Greek diatheke, both rendering Hebrew berith (though testament also is used for the same word in different places).
- covenant (v.)
- c. 1300, from covenant (n.). Related: Covenanted; covenanting. Covenanter (1638) was used especially in reference to Scottish Presbyterians who signed the Solemn League and Covenant (1643) for the defense and furtherance of their cause.
Example
- 1. That covenant was prime minister rabin 's life 's work .
- 2. Real archaeology involves rather more buried rectangles than arks of the covenant .
- 3. Does all this amount to a nation " honouring the covenant " ( as liam fox , the defence secretary , puts it ) and showing living soldiers the respect that wootton bassett accords the dead ?
- 4. China has so far signed 18 international agreements on human rights including a covenant on economic , social and cultural rights and a covenant on civil and political rights .
- 5. Only a covenant kept by the rule of the sword can keep man from falling back into his natural state .