Word.ws English Dictionary

Holyrood

Syllables: Hol·y·roodUK/ˈhɒl.i.ɹuːd/

Holyrood proper noun: an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, the home of the Scottish Parliament. Also the alternative form of Holy Rood.

Proper noun

Holyrood

  1. An area of Edinburgh, Scotland, the home of the Scottish Parliament.
  2. (UK, broadly, metonymically) The Scottish Parliament.
    • But Matheson has indicated that the Scottish Government will not be responding to the consultation because transport policy in Scotland is a matter for ministers at Holyrood and not at Westminster.2020 December 16, “Network News: Scotland set to snub Johnson's Union Connectivity Review”, in RAIL, page 21
    • Yousaf is almost certain to be confirmed as Scotland’s next first minister in a nominal vote at Holyrood on Tuesday but now has to bridge those divides by bringing the SNP’s warring wings together.2023 March 27, Severin Carrell, Libby Brooks, “Humza Yousaf elected leader of Scottish National party”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  3. A neighbourhood in south-east Edmonton, Alberta.
  4. A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador.
  5. A community in Huron-Kinloss township, Bruce County, Ontario.
  6. A minor city in Ellsworth County, Kansas, United States.

Also used as

Holyrood is also the alternative form of Holy Rood.

Forms of Holyrood

alternative formHoly Rood

Origin of Holyrood

From Middle English Holy Rood, Holyrode, holy-rode, holy roode, hali rode, halgorode, equivalent to holy + rood (“crucifix, cross”). The town in Newfoundland is named after a location near Crewkerne, Somerset.

Questions about Holyrood

What does Holyrood mean?
Holyrood means an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, the home of the Scottish Parliament.
What part of speech is Holyrood?
Holyrood is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Holyrood?
Holyrood is pronounced /ˈhɒl.i.ɹuːd/ (UK).

Words near Holyrood in the dictionary

  1. holyokeite
  2. Holyoker
  3. Holyokers
  4. Holyokian
  5. Holyokians
  6. Holyrood
  7. Holyshiv
  8. holystone
  9. holystoned
  10. holystones
  11. holystoning

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Holyrood (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Holyrood.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/holyrood. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.