Catholic

//ˈkæ.θ(ə.)lɪk// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of a Catholic (western Christian) church.
  2. 2
    a member of a Catholic church wordnet
  3. 3
    A member of a Catholic (western Christian) church.; A member of the Roman Catholic Church (which is also elliptically called the Catholic Church). ellipsis, often

    "The wife of the Prime Minister is a Catholic."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Universal; all-encompassing.

    "The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all."

  2. 2
    Of the Western Christian church, as differentiated from e.g. the Orthodox church.

    "Christmas is celebrated at different dates in the Catholic and Orthodox calendars."

  3. 3
    Alternative letter-case form of Catholic. alt-of
  4. 4
    Of the Western Christian church, as differentiated from e.g. the Orthodox church.; Of the Roman Catholic church in particular.

    "The Church of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic one."

  5. 5
    Common or prevalent; especially universally prevalent. obsolete
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    Alternative letter-case form of catholic. alt-of
  2. 7
    Embracing all. usually

    ""I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course.""

  3. 8
    Universally applicable. obsolete
  4. 9
    Of universal human interest or use.

    "And as the whole booke of Psalmes is Oleum efjusum, (as the Spouse speaks of the name of Christ) an Oyntment powred out upon all sorts of sores, A Searcloth that souples all bruises, A Balme that searches all wounds; so are there some certaine Psalmes, that are Imperiall Psalmes, that command over all affections, and spread themselves over all occasions, Catholique, universall Psalmes, that apply themselves to all necessities."

Adjective
  1. 1
    free from provincial prejudices or attachments wordnet
  2. 2
    of or relating to or supporting Catholicism wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
universalacross-the-boardall aroundall comprehensiveall embracingall inclusive

Example

More examples

"Even people who don't believe in the Catholic church venerate the Pope as a symbolic leader."

Etymology

From Old French catholique, from Latin catholicus, from Ancient Greek καθολικός (katholikós, “universal”), from κατά (katá, “according to”) + ὅλος (hólos, “whole”).

Related phrases

Anglo-CatholicArmenian CatholicCatholic ChurchCatholic IslandCatholic frogCoptic CatholicEritrean CatholicEthiopian CatholicIndependent CatholicIndependent CatholicismRoman CatholicSyriac Catholic

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.