Word.ws English Dictionary

city on a hill

city on a hill is the alternative form of city upon a hill.

Meaning of city upon a hill

Noun

city upon a hill

  1. A morally exemplary settlement, destined by God for greater things. Most often used to refer to the United States, or more specifically the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Questions about city on a hill

What is city on a hill the alternative form of?
City on a hill is the alternative form of city upon a hill.

Words near city on a hill in the dictionary

  1. city of refuge
  2. city of seven hills
  3. City of Sydney
  4. City of Victoria
  5. City of Westminster
  6. city on a hill
  7. City Park
  8. city pigeon
  9. city plan
  10. city plans
  11. city pop

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: city on a hill (page history and authors); city upon a hill (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “city on a hill.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/city_on_a_hill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.