Refine this word faster
Reformation
Definitions
- 1 The religious movement initiated in the 16th century against the Roman Catholic Church, leading to more than a century of internecine conflict that ended with a durable division between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. historical
"Who or what is a Catholic? This Greek word has become one of the chief battlegrounds in western Latin Christianity […] How can the word describe all of these things and still have any meaning? I have written this book about the sixteenth-century Reformation in part to answer that question. The Reformation introduced many more complications to the word; in fact there were very many different Reformations, nearly all of which would have said that they were simply aimed at recreating authentic Catholic Christianity. For simplicity’s sake I will take for granted that this book examines multiple Reformations, some of which were directed by the Pope. From now on I will continue to use the shorthand term ‘Reformation’, but readers should therefore note that this is often intended to embrace both Protestantism and the religious movements commonly known as Tridentine Catholicism, the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation: the revitalized part of the old Church which remained loyal to the Pope. ’Catholic’ is clearly a word which a lot of people want to possess. By contrast, it is remarkable how many religious labels started life as a sneer: the Reformation was full of angry words. […] Reformation disputes were passionate about words because words were myriad refractions of a God one of whose names was Word: a God encountered in a library of books itself simply called ‘Book’ – the Bible. It is impossible to understand modern Europe without understanding these sixteenth-century upheavals in Latin Christianity. They represented the greatest fault-line to appear in Christian culture since the Latin and Greek halves of the Roman empire went their separate ways a thousand years before; they produced a house divided. The fault-line is the business of this book."
- 1 An improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices, etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social, political or religious affairs or in the conduct of persons or operation of organizations. countable, uncountable
"[…] olde men long nusled in corruption, scorning them that would seeke reformation […]"
- 2 Alternative form of re-formation. alt-of, alternative
- 3 rescuing from error and returning to a rightful course wordnet
- 4 Change or correction, by a court in equity, to a written instrument to conform to the original intention of the parties. countable, uncountable
"All sorts of legal instruments may be reformed by equity, when the errors, which have been committed in the execution of them, are mutual mistakes or a mistake of one party combined with the fraud of the other. Thus, reformation has been decreed of all kinds of deeds of conveyance, including leases, mortgages, deeds of trust, marriage and family settlements. Likewise, bonds of all kinds, policies of insurance, assignments or release of mortgages, executory contracts for the sale of lands, the indorsement of a note, agreements for the establishment of a highway, military orders. So may, also, judgments and other records be corrected or be reformed."
- 5 a religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches wordnet
Show 1 more definition
- 6 improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social or political or religious affairs wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English reformacioun, reformation, from Middle French reformation and Latin refōrmātiō, refōrmātiōnis (“reform, change”), from refōrmō (“transform, reshape”), from re- + fōrmō (“shape, form”). By surface analysis, reform + -ation.
Originally a variant of Etymology 1. In later use also independently from re- + formation, after re-form.
See also for "reformation"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: reformation