Religious
adj, noun ·3 syllables ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A member of a religious order, congregation, or certain other forms of consecrated life, i.e. a monk, nun, sister, brother, friar, or other religious priest.
"Towards the end of the seventh century the monks of Fleury [...] clandestinely excavated the body of Benedict himself, plus the corpse of his even more shadowy sister and fellow religious, Scholastica."
- 2 a member of a religious order who is bound by vows of poverty and chastity and obedience wordnet
- 1 Concerning religion.
"It is the job of this court to rule on legal matters. We do not consider religious issues."
- 2 Committed to the practice or adherence of religion.
"I was much more religious as a teenager than I am now."
- 3 Highly dedicated, as one would be to a religion.
"I'm a religious fan of college basketball."
- 4 Belonging or pertaining to a religious order.
"Near-synonym: monastic"
- 1 of or relating to clergy bound by monastic vows wordnet
- 2 having or showing belief in and reverence for a deity wordnet
- 3 concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church wordnet
- 4 extremely scrupulous and conscientious wordnet
Example
More examples"I consider the Jehovah's witnesses who knock on my door all the time to be no different from religious zealots trying to force their beliefs on me."
Etymology
From Middle English religiouse, religious, religius, religeous, from Anglo-Norman religieus, religius, from Old French religious, religieux, and their source, Latin religiōsus (“religious, superstitious, conscientious”), from religiō. Doublet of religieux.
Related phrases
More for "religious"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.