Nearby Words
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.
3.
(of education, a school, etc.) concerned with nonreligious subjects.
4.
(of members of the clergy) not belonging to a religious order; not bound by monastic vows (opposed to regular).
5.
EXPANDoccurring or celebrated once in an age or century: the secular games of Rome.
6.
COLLAPSEgoing on from age to age; continuing through long ages.
noun
7.
a layperson.
8.
one of the secular clergy.
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Secular
is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
Origin:
1250–1300; < Medieval Latin sēculāris, Late Latin saeculāris worldly, temporal (opposed to eternal), Latin: of an age, equivalent to Latin saecul(um) long period of time + -āris -ar1; replacing Middle English seculer < Old French < Latin, as above
1250–1300; < Medieval Latin sēculāris, Late Latin saeculāris worldly, temporal (opposed to eternal), Latin: of an age, equivalent to Latin saecul(um) long period of time + -āris -ar1; replacing Middle English seculer < Old French < Latin, as above
Related forms
sec·u·lar·ly, adverb
non·sec·u·lar, adjective
pre·sec·u·lar, adjective
su·per·sec·u·lar, adjective
su·per·sec·u·lar·ly, adverb
EXPAND
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Secular
Collins
World English Dictionary
| secular (ˈsɛkjʊlə) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | of or relating to worldly as opposed to sacred things; temporal |
| 2. | not concerned with or related to religion |
| 3. | not within the control of the Church |
| 4. | of an education, etc |
| a. having no particular religious affinities | |
| b. not including compulsory religious studies or services | |
| 5. | (of clerics) not bound by religious vows to a monastic or other order |
| 6. | occurring or appearing once in an age or century |
| 7. | lasting for a long time |
| 8. | astronomy occurring slowly over a long period of time: the secular perturbation of a planet's orbit |
| —n | |
| 9. | a member of the secular clergy |
| 10. | another word for layman |
| [C13: from Old French seculer, from Late Latin saeculāris temporal, from Latin: concerning an age, from saeculum an age] | |
| 'secularly | |
| —adv | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
secular
late 13c., "living in the world, not belonging to a religious order," also "belonging to the state," from O.Fr. seculer, from L.L. sæcularis "worldly, secular," from L. sæcularis "of an age, occurring once in an age," from sæculum "age, span of time, generation," probably originally
EXPANDcognate with words for "seed," from PIE base *se(i)- "to sow" (cf. Goth. mana-seþs "mankind, world," lit. "seed of men"). Used in ecclesiastical writing like Gk. aion "of this world" (see cosmos). It is source of Fr. siècle. Ancient Roman ludi sæculares was a three-day, day-and-night celebration coming once in an "age" (120 years). Secularism "doctrine that morality should be based on the well-being of man in the present life, without regard to religious belief or a hereafter" first recorded 1846.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
secular [(sek-yuh-luhr)]Not concerned with religion or religious matters. Secular is the opposite of sacred.
Note: Secularization refers to the declining influence of religion and religious values within a given culture. Secular humanism means, loosely, a belief in human self-sufficiency.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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