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View synonyms for pastoral

pastoral

[ pas-ter-uhl, pah-ster- ]

adjective

  1. having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas:

    pastoral scenery; the pastoral life.

    Synonyms: simple, rural, rustic

  2. pertaining to the country or to life in the country; rural; rustic.
  3. portraying or suggesting idyllically the life of shepherds or of the country, as a work of literature, art, or music:

    pastoral poetry; a pastoral symphony.

    Synonyms: idyllic, bucolic

  4. of, relating to, or consisting of shepherds.
  5. of or relating to a pastor or the duties of a pastor:

    pastoral visits to a hospital.

  6. used for pasture, as land.


noun

  1. a poem, play, or the like, dealing with the life of shepherds, commonly in a conventional or artificial manner, or with simple rural life generally; a bucolic.

    Synonyms: georgic, idyll, eclogue

  2. a picture or work of art representing the shepherds' life.
  3. Music. pastorale.
  4. a treatise on the duties of a pastor.
  5. a letter to the people from their spiritual pastor.
  6. a letter to the clergy or people of an ecclesiastical district from its bishop.
  7. Also called pastoral staff. crosier ( def 1 ).

pastoral

/ ˈpɑːstərəl /

adjective

  1. of, characterized by, or depicting rural life, scenery, etc
  2. (of a literary work) dealing with an idealized form of rural existence in a conventional way
  3. (of land) used for pasture
  4. denoting or relating to the branch of theology dealing with the duties of a clergyman or priest to his congregation
  5. of or relating to a clergyman or priest in charge of a congregation or his duties as such
  6. of or relating to a teacher's responsibility for the personal, as the distinct from the educational, development of pupils
  7. of or relating to shepherds, their work, etc


noun

  1. a literary work or picture portraying rural life, esp the lives of shepherds in an idealizing way See also eclogue
  2. music a variant of pastorale
  3. Christianity
    1. a letter from a clergyman to the people under his charge
    2. the letter of a bishop to the clergy or people of his diocese
    3. Also calledpastoral staff the crosier or staff carried by a bishop as a symbol of his pastoral responsibilities

pastoral

  1. A work of art that celebrates the cultivated enjoyment of the countryside. The poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” by Christopher Marlowe, is a pastoral. Its first stanza reads:

    Come live with me, and be my love;

    And we will all the pleasures prove

    That hills and valleys, dales and fields,

    Woods or steepy mountain yields.



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Derived Forms

  • ˈpastoralˌism, noun
  • ˈpastorally, adverb

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Other Words From

  • pasto·ral·ly adverb
  • non·pasto·ral adjective noun
  • non·pasto·ral·ly adverb
  • semi·pasto·ral adjective
  • semi·pasto·ral·ly adverb
  • un·pasto·ral adjective
  • un·pasto·ral·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of pastoral1

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin pāstōrālis, equivalent to pāstōr-, stem of pāstor ( pastor ) + -ālis -al 1

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Word History and Origins

Origin of pastoral1

C15: from Latin, from pastor

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Example Sentences

Takeda’s video-collage shuttles rapidly through various photo-based locations, usually urban but occasionally as pastoral as in previous year’s shows.

An example that I’m aware of was a big wind farm in Kenya, and it was on pastoral land belonging to pastoralists.

These aren’t the idyllic, pastoral farms we’re taught to picture as children, with birds free to wander around in the greenery.

From Vox

For a short stroll or run, check out pastoral Harmon Canyon Preserve, which slices through the mountainous foothills perched at the city’s northern edge.

Those posts cite prominent conversion “therapists” and include a video with advice for conversion therapy practitioners and others that falsely suggest “Schema therapy” and “professionals and pastoral mentors” can successfully change LGBTQ people.

He is to be admired for his kindness and genuine pastoral concern for all the members of his flock.

The carriage drivers insist that a great majority of their horses live to enjoy a pastoral retirement.

Fast forward about 20 years, and this American Pastoral image of college seems, for the average college student, an ancient dream.

It is a novel of suspense and secrets, a pastoral novel that slowly tears the pastoral apart.

For most of the year, pastoral Pag is home to roughly eight thousand residents and thirty thousand indigenous sheep.

The abnormal rise in wages had the bad effect of inducing the natives to leave their pastoral pursuits to flock into the towns.

Alàri, too, offers a marvellously carved wooden cup, adorned with pastoral scenes.

Can you imagine anything more pastoral than a traffic in cream and butter and eggs?

Stowmarket, as I have said, had the honour of being placed under the pastoral care of one of these Smectymnian divines.

In addition Broken Hill is the centre of one of the largest pastoral districts in Australia.

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