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secular

 - 4 dictionary results

sec·u·lar

[sek-yuh-ler]
–adjective
1.
of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.
2.
not pertaining to or connected with religion (opposed to sacred): secular music.
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.
occurring or celebrated once in an age or century: the secular games of Rome.
6.
going on from age to age; continuing through long ages.
–noun
7.
a layperson.
8.
one of the secular clergy.

Origin:
1250–1300; < ML sēculāris, LL saeculāris worldly, temporal (opposed to eternal), L: of an age, equiv. to L saecul(um) long period of time + -āris -ar1; r. ME seculer < OF < L, as above

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
un·sec·u·lar, adjective
un·sec·u·lar·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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World English Dictionary
secular (ˈsɛkjʊlə) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
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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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 cognate 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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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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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