sec·u·lar

(sĕk′yə-lər)

adj.

a. Worldly rather than spiritual: the secular affairs of the parish.

b. Not relating to religion or to a religious body; nonreligious: secular music.

c. Not bound by the full monastic rule of a religious order. Used of clergy.

2. Relating to or advocating secularism.

a. Occurring or observed once in an age or century, as games in ancient Rome.

b. Lasting or persisting for a long time: a secular bear market.

c. Astronomy Of or relating to characteristics of astronomical phenomena that change slowly over time.

1. A member of the secular clergy.

2. A layperson.

[Middle English, from Old French seculer, from Late Latin saeculāris, from Latin, of an age, from saeculum, generation, age.]

sec′u·lar·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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. (Education) (of an education, etc)

a. having no particular religious affinities

b. not including compulsory religious studies or services

5. (Ecclesiastical Terms) (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) astronomy occurring slowly over a long period of time: the secular perturbation of a planet's orbit.

9. (Ecclesiastical Terms) 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]

ˈsecularly adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sec•u•lar

(ˈsɛk yə lər)

adj.

1. of or pertaining to worldly things or to things not regarded as sacred; temporal.

2. not relating to or concerned with religion (opposed to sacred): secular music.

3. concerned with nonreligious subjects: secular schools.

4. not belonging to a religious order; not bound by monastic vows (opposed to regular).

5. occurring or celebrated once in an age or century.

6. continuing throughout the ages.

7. a layperson.

8. one of the secular clergy.

[1250–1300; Middle English seculer (< Old French) < Late Latin saeculāris worldly, temporal (opposed to eternal), Latin: of an age < Latin saecul(um) long period of time]

sec′u•lar•ly, adv.

secular

- Has a root meaning of "temporal"—opposed to the eternity of the church—and means "not connected to a religion."

See also related terms for religion.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	secular - someone who is not a clergyman or a professional person layman, layperson laity, temporalty - in Christianity, members of a religious community that do not have the priestly responsibilities of ordained clergy common man, common person, commoner - a person who holds no title lay reader - a layman who is authorized by the bishop to read parts of the service in an Anglican or Episcopal church
Adj.	1.	secular - of or relating to the doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations
	2.	secular - characteristic of or devoted to the temporal world as opposed to the spiritual world; "worldly goods and advancement"; "temporal possessions of the church" worldly, temporal earthly - of or belonging to or characteristic of this earth as distinguished from heaven; "earthly beings"; "believed that our earthly life is all that matters"; "earthly love"; "our earthly home" profane, secular - not concerned with or devoted to religion; "sacred and profane music"; "secular drama"; "secular architecture", "children being brought up in an entirely profane environment" sophisticated - having or appealing to those having worldly knowledge and refinement and savoir-faire; "sophisticated young socialites"; "a sophisticated audience"; "a sophisticated lifestyle"; "a sophisticated book"
	3.	secular - not concerned with or devoted to religion; "sacred and profane music"; "secular drama"; "secular architecture", "children being brought up in an entirely profane environment" profane earthly - of or belonging to or characteristic of this earth as distinguished from heaven; "earthly beings"; "believed that our earthly life is all that matters"; "earthly love"; "our earthly home" impious - lacking piety or reverence for a god worldly, secular, temporal - characteristic of or devoted to the temporal world as opposed to the spiritual world; "worldly goods and advancement"; "temporal possessions of the church"
	4.	secular - of or relating to clergy not bound by monastic vows; "the secular clergy" religious - of or relating to clergy bound by monastic vows; "the religious or regular clergy conducts the service"
	5.	secular - characteristic of those who are not members of the clergy; "set his collar in laic rather than clerical position"; "the lay ministry" laic, lay profane, secular - not concerned with or devoted to religion; "sacred and profane music"; "secular drama"; "secular architecture", "children being brought up in an entirely profane environment"

secular

adjective worldly, state, lay, earthly, civil, temporal, profane, laic, nonspiritual, laical secular and religious education
religious, spiritual, holy, sacred, divine, theological

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

secular

adjective

1. Relating to or characteristic of the earth or of human life on earth:

earthbound, earthen, earthly, earthy, mundane, tellurian, telluric, temporal, terrene, terrestrial, worldly.

2. Not religious in subject matter, form, or use:

lay, profane, temporal, worldly.

Translations

عِلْماني

světský

sekulærverdslig

weltlich

secular seglar

aikaväliajallinenmaallinenpitkäsekulaarinen

laïcité profane séculaire séculier

veraldlegur

laico

laicīgspasaulīgs

ikke-religiøs

secular

posveten

dinsel olmayanlâik

世俗的

secular

[ˈsekjʊləʳ] ADJ [authority] → laico; [writings, music] → profano; [priest] → secular, seglar
secular school → escuela f laica

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

secular

[ˈsɛkjʊlə^r] adj [world, society, state, institute, government, press, group] → laïque

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

secular

adj → weltlich, säkular; music, art → profan; court, education → weltlich; state → säkular; secular priest → Weltgeistliche(r) mf

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

secular

[ˈsɛkjʊləʳ] adj (authority, school) → laico/a; (writings, music) → profano/a; (clergy) → secolare

secular

(ˈsekjulə) adjective

not spiritual or religious. secular art/music.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Many different forms, both religious and secular, including the religious drama.

View in context

Helene understood that the question was very simple and easy from the ecclesiastical point of view, and that her directors were making difficulties only because they were apprehensive as to how the matter would be regarded by the secular authorities.

View in context

"And Sitnikov is not satisfied with him." (Sitnikov was the tutor to whom Seryozha's secular education had been intrusted.) "As I have mentioned to you, there's a sort of coldness in him towards the most important questions which ought to touch the heart of every man and every child...." Alexey Alexandrovitch began expounding his views on the sole question that interested him besides the service--the education of his son.

View in context

Secular and religious education had effaced the throat-grappling in- stinct, or else firm finance held in check the pas- sions.

View in context

What secular want could the million or so of human beings whose daily labour, six days in the week, lay among these Arcadian objects, from the sweet sameness of which they had no escape between the cradle and the grave--what secular want could they possibly have upon their seventh day?

View in context

"Then all we have to do," said the curate, "is to hand them over to the secular arm of the housekeeper, and ask me not why, or we shall never have done."

View in context

The secular cooling that must someday overtake our planet has already gone far indeed with our neighbour.

View in context

Turning to the secular brothers and sisters of these peasant ecclesiastics, at first sight so strongly contrasted with them, M.

View in context

Miss Ladd broke through her rule of attending to secular affairs on week days only; and, after consulting with Mrs.

View in context

Yet so loose were the ideas of the times respecting the conduct of the clergy, whether secular or regular, that the Prior Aymer maintained a fair character in the neighbourhood of his abbey.

View in context

Every one must have remarked how mud-banks, left by the retiring tide, imitate in miniature a country with hill and dale; and here we have the original model in rock, formed as the continent rose during the secular retirement of the ocean, instead of during the ebbing and flowing of the tides.

View in context

Nature looks provokingly stable and secular, but it has a cause like all the rest; and when once I comprehend that, will these fields stretch so immovably wide, these leaves hang so individually considerable?

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