SACRED COW Definition & Meaning

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sacred cow

noun

an individual, organization, institution, etc., considered to be exempt from criticism or questioning.

sacred cow

noun

informal.
a person, institution, custom, etc, unreasonably held to be beyond criticism

sacred cow

Figuratively, anything that is beyond criticism: “That housing project is a real sacred cow: the city council won't hear of abandoning it.” In India, followers of Hinduism consider cows sacred and do not eat them because they believe the animals contain the souls of dead persons.

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of sacred cow¹

First recorded in 1905–10; in reference to the traditional inviolability of the cow among Hindus

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of sacred cow¹

alluding to the Hindu belief that cattle are sacred

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Idioms and Phrases

A person or thing immune to criticism or questioning, as in The rules governing the press conference have become a sacred cow in this administration . This term alludes to the honored status of cows in Hinduism, where they are a symbol of God's generosity to humankind. It has been used figuratively since about 1900.

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Example Sentences

“This means that the formula ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine — a sacred cow for Zelensky, the European Union and the previous U.S. administration — no longer exists.”

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Honor the victims, not foreign policy sacred cows.

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Greenfield called Jackson an “iconoclast,” and this contrarian spirit is integral to an artist who is dubious of sacred cows.

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And their play is the latest testament to the 16th president’s staying power as an irreverent figure in genre — comedy, horror, thrillers — a world that devours sacred cows like a kid scarfs down Skittles.

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At least that was the theory of Stephen Yagman, an attorney both admired and reviled in local lore for his history of toppling sacred cows.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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