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Church
Definitions
- 1 Used to express strong agreement. slang
"– These burritos are the best! – Church!"
- 1 A surname.
- 2 A specific church (Christian religious denomination), such as the Church of England or the Catholic Church.
"Priest: Look, matey, this is a church, not a dealing room. I am not interested in your creepy theories about enterprise and initiative. This place is founded on ideas a bit more permanent than the Dow Jones Index... The Church will be here long after your little brat has grown up, ripped a few people off and died unloved in his Spanish retirement villa. Mother: Portuguese, actually, and there's no need to be so beastly. Priest: Well, I'm sorry, but people like you really piss me off."
- 3 Christianity conceptualized as a single church, irrespective of its various denominations; Christendom.
"the Son in Heaven and the Church on Earth"
- 4 A village in Hyndburn borough, near Accrington, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD7429).
- 5 An unincorporated community in Allamakee County, Iowa, United States.
- 1 A Christian house of worship; a building where Christian religious services take place. countable
"There is a lovely little church in the valley."
- 2 a service conducted in a house of worship wordnet
- 3 Christians collectively seen as a single spiritual community; Christianity; Christendom. countable, uncountable
"These worshippers make up the Church of Christ."
- 4 a place for public (especially Christian) worship wordnet
- 5 A local group of people who follow the same Christian religious beliefs, local or general. countable
"Many young people find their only role models of family life in church."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 one of the groups of Christians who have their own beliefs and forms of worship wordnet
- 7 A particular denomination of Christianity. countable
"The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534."
- 8 the body of people who attend or belong to a particular local church wordnet
- 9 Christian worship held at a church; service. countable, uncountable
"Pastors complained that they were not allowed enough authority in church, with women exercising too much informal control."
- 10 Organized religion in general or a specific religion considered as a political institution. uncountable
"Many constitutions enshrine the separation of church and state."
- 11 Any religious group or place of worship; a temple. countable, informal, uncountable
"She goes to a Wiccan church down the road."
- 12 Assembly. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 1 To conduct a religious service for (a woman after childbirth, or a newly married couple). historical, transitive
"Thenne after this lady was delyuerd and chirched / there came a knyghte vnto her / his name was sire Bromel la pleche / the whiche was a grete lord and he hadde loued that lady longe / and he euermore desyred her to wedde her / and soo by no meane she coude putte hym of"
- 2 perform a special church rite or service for wordnet
- 3 To educate someone religiously, as in a church. transitive
Etymology
From Middle English chirche, from Old English ċiriċe (“church”), from Proto-West Germanic *kirikā, an early borrowing of Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón), neuter form of κυριακός (kuriakós, “belonging to the lord”), from κύριος (kúrios, “ruler, lord”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell, spread out, be strong, prevail”). Doublet of kirk. additional etymological information For vowel evolution, see bury. Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón) was used of houses of Christian worship since circa 300 CE, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “congregation”) or βασιλική (basilikḗ, “royal thing”). An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, possibly via the Goths; it was probably used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period. Cognate with Scots kirk (“church”), West Frisian tsjerke (“church”), Saterland Frisian Säärke (“church”), Dutch kerk (“church”), German Kirche (“church”), Danish kirke (“church”), Swedish kyrka (“church”), Norwegian Bokmål kirke, Norwegian Nynorsk kyrkje (“church”), and Icelandic kirkja (“church”). Also picked up by Slavic, via Old High German chirihha (compare Old Church Slavonic црькꙑ (crĭky), Bulgarian църква (cǎrkva), Russian це́рковь (cérkovʹ)). Romance and Celtic languages use descendants of Latin ecclēsia.
From Middle English chirche, from Old English ċiriċe (“church”), from Proto-West Germanic *kirikā, an early borrowing of Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón), neuter form of κυριακός (kuriakós, “belonging to the lord”), from κύριος (kúrios, “ruler, lord”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell, spread out, be strong, prevail”). Doublet of kirk. additional etymological information For vowel evolution, see bury. Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón) was used of houses of Christian worship since circa 300 CE, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “congregation”) or βασιλική (basilikḗ, “royal thing”). An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, possibly via the Goths; it was probably used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period. Cognate with Scots kirk (“church”), West Frisian tsjerke (“church”), Saterland Frisian Säärke (“church”), Dutch kerk (“church”), German Kirche (“church”), Danish kirke (“church”), Swedish kyrka (“church”), Norwegian Bokmål kirke, Norwegian Nynorsk kyrkje (“church”), and Icelandic kirkja (“church”). Also picked up by Slavic, via Old High German chirihha (compare Old Church Slavonic црькꙑ (crĭky), Bulgarian църква (cǎrkva), Russian це́рковь (cérkovʹ)). Romance and Celtic languages use descendants of Latin ecclēsia.
From Middle English chirche, from Old English ċiriċe (“church”), from Proto-West Germanic *kirikā, an early borrowing of Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón), neuter form of κυριακός (kuriakós, “belonging to the lord”), from κύριος (kúrios, “ruler, lord”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell, spread out, be strong, prevail”). Doublet of kirk. additional etymological information For vowel evolution, see bury. Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón) was used of houses of Christian worship since circa 300 CE, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “congregation”) or βασιλική (basilikḗ, “royal thing”). An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, possibly via the Goths; it was probably used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period. Cognate with Scots kirk (“church”), West Frisian tsjerke (“church”), Saterland Frisian Säärke (“church”), Dutch kerk (“church”), German Kirche (“church”), Danish kirke (“church”), Swedish kyrka (“church”), Norwegian Bokmål kirke, Norwegian Nynorsk kyrkje (“church”), and Icelandic kirkja (“church”). Also picked up by Slavic, via Old High German chirihha (compare Old Church Slavonic црькꙑ (crĭky), Bulgarian църква (cǎrkva), Russian це́рковь (cérkovʹ)). Romance and Celtic languages use descendants of Latin ecclēsia.
See also for "church"
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