Encyclical

//ɛnˈsɪklɪkəl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A papal letter, intended for general circulation in the Catholic Church.
  2. 2
    a letter from the pope sent to all Roman Catholic bishops throughout the world wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Intended for general circulation. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    intended for wide distribution wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
encyclical letteraerogramair letterairgraphannouncementannunciation

Etymology

From Late Latin encyclicus + -al, from Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος (enkúklios, “circular, general”), from ἐν- (en-) + κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”).

Related phrases

roman catholic

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