Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A group consisting of three closely related members.
  • noun Theology In most Christian faiths, the union of three divine persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one God.
  • noun Trinity Sunday.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The condition of being three; threeness.
  • noun A set or group of three; a triad; a trio; a trine.
  • noun [capitalized] The union of three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—in one Godhead; the threefold personality of the one divine being.
  • noun A symbolical representation of the mystery of the Trinity, frequent in Christian art.
  • noun In heraldry, a bearing compounded of an orle, a pall, and four roundels, three at the angles of the orle where the bands of the pall meet it, the fourth at the intersection of the bands of the pall.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Christian Theol.) The union of three persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost) in one Godhead, so that all the three are one God as to substance, but three persons as to individuality.
  • noun Any union of three in one; three units treated as one; a triad, as the Hindu trinity, or Trimurti.
  • noun Any symbol of the Trinity employed in Christian art, especially the triangle.
  • noun an institution in London for promoting commerce and navigation, by licensing pilots, ordering and erecting beacons, and the like.
  • noun the Sunday next after Whitsunday; -- so called from the feast held on that day in honor of the Holy Trinity.
  • noun (Law) See the Note under Term, n., 5.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A group or set of three people or things; triad; trio; trine.
  • noun The state of being three; threeness.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun three people considered as a unit
  • noun the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
  • noun the union of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost in one Godhead

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English trinite, from Old French, from Latin trīnitās, from trīnus, trine; see trine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French trinité (French: trinité), from Latin trīnitās, from trīni ("three each"), from trēs ("three").

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Examples

  • The Bible does not contain the term trinity either, but repeatedly it refers to the “threeness” of God being God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

    Can America Survive? John Hagee 2010

  • The Bible does not contain the term trinity either, but repeatedly it refers to the “threeness” of God being God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

    Can America Survive? John Hagee 2010

  • Although the term trinity is a theological expression devised by the early Church Fathers in countering various heresies, such as Gnosticism, Sabellianism, and Arianism, and not to be found explicitly in the Bible, it is everywhere assumed and alluded to.

    SharperIron dwenkel 2008

  • Though the term trinity isn’t in the Bible, the truth of God’s three-in-one nature is.

    Can America Survive? John Hagee 2010

  • Some further thoughts remain to be thrown out in the third place, as to the prëconceivable fitness or propriety of that Holy Union, which we call the trinity of Persons who constitute the

    Probabilities : An aid to Faith Martin Farquhar Tupper 1849

  • Some further thoughts remain to be thrown out in the third place, as to the prëconceivable fitness or propriety of that Holy Union, which we call the trinity of Persons who constitute the

    The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper Martin Farquhar Tupper 1849

  • Though the term trinity isn’t in the Bible, the truth of God’s three-in-one nature is.

    Can America Survive? John Hagee 2010

  • At least there is no Trinity in trinity, no Superman in superman and no Wonder Woman in wonder Woman.

    Is the Bat out of the bag? | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment 2009

  • The doctrine of the trinity is really just short hand for three simple biblical truths

    Blind Faith? 2009

  • The doctrine of the trinity is really just short hand for three simple biblical truths

    Blind Faith? 2009

Comments

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  • In Louisiana when one cooks just about anything, from say gumbo to etouffe to a pot of beans, they use what is called the trinity...onion, celery and bellpepper. Chopped and sauteed.

    February 13, 2008

  • See also aromatic vegetables and mirepoix for a slight variation on this.

    February 13, 2008