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Devote vs Dedicate vs Consecrate vs Hallow

Devote, dedicate, consecrate, hallow mean to set apart something or less often someone for a particular use or end.

Devote often implies a giving up or setting apart because of motives almost as impelling as those that demand a vow.

Dedicate implies solemn and exclusive devotion and often a ceremonial setting apart for a serious and often a sacred use.

Consecrate implies the giving of a sacred or exalted character, especially by rites (as those by which a building is set apart for the service or worship of God or by which a bishop or king is elevated to his throne or by which ground is set apart as a burial place of the dead).

In more general applications consecrate while not implying such rites does carry a stronger connotation of almost religious devotion than dedicate.

Hallow is a still stronger term, partly because of its use in the Lord’s Prayer and partly because it often implies an ascription of intrinsic sanctity.

Unlike the foregoing terms hallow is not normally used of oneself; thus, one may devote or dedicate or occasionally consecrate oneself to something (as a duty, a responsibility, or an interest), but one hallows something or more rarely someone.

Hallow may also be used to imply a mere respecting or making respectable (as by reason of age or custom) without suggesting a sacred character.