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Antonyms for secular


Grammar : Adj
Spell : sek-yuh-ler
Phonetic Transcription : ˈsɛk yə lər



Definition of secular

Origin :
  • c.1300, "living in the world, not belonging to a religious order," also "belonging to the state," from Old French seculer (Modern French séculier), from Late Latin saecularis "worldly, secular, pertaining to a generation or age," from Latin saecularis "of an age, occurring once in an age," from saeculum "age, span of time, generation."
  • According to Watkins, this is probably from PIE *sai-tlo-, with instrumental element *-tlo- + *sai- "to bind, tie" (see sinew), extended metaphorically to successive human generations as links in the chain of life. Another theory connects it with words for "seed," from PIE root *se- "to sow" (see sow (v.), and cf. Gothic mana-seþs "mankind, world," literally "seed of men").
  • Used in ecclesiastical writing like Greek aion "of this world" (see cosmos). It is source of French siècle. Ancient Roman ludi saeculares was a three-day, day-and-night celebration coming once in an "age" (120 years). In English, in reference to humanism and the exclusion of belief in God from matters of ethics and morality, from 1850s.
  • adj not spiritual or religious
Example sentences :
  • As we have said, India is a land where the secular does not appeal.
  • Extract from : « Lotus Buds » by Amy Carmichael
  • Of course, regarding the secular advantages of the colony, we cannot speak.
  • Extract from : « Leading Articles on Various Subjects » by Hugh Miller
  • Valuable modern and secular books have been added to these collections from time to time.
  • Extract from : « Aztec Land » by Maturin M. Ballou
  • Boye was a gifted writer, both on secular and religious themes.
  • Extract from : « Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark » by Jens Christian Aaberg
  • It must not, however, be supposed that New England had no secular music.
  • Extract from : « Annals of Music in America » by Henry Charles Lahee
  • He dominated the forest, the secular gloom, the old mankind.
  • Extract from : « Lord Jim » by Joseph Conrad
  • Freedom from sacerdotal dogma, from secular law, she has always had.
  • Extract from : « The Soul of a People » by H. Fielding
  • He had absolutely no desire to get mixed up with the secular police.
  • Extract from : « Pagan Passions » by Gordon Randall Garrett
  • For a while after my reception, I proposed to betake myself to some secular calling.
  • Extract from : « Apologia Pro Vita Sua » by John Henry Cardinal Newman
  • But I have not a good selection of music, sacred or secular.
  • Extract from : « A Pair of Blue Eyes » by Thomas Hardy

Synonyms for secular

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019