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Catholicism

American  
[kuh-thol-uh-siz-uhm] / kəˈθɒl əˌsɪz əm /

noun

  1. the faith, system, and practice of the Catholic Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.

  2. (lowercase) catholicity.


Catholicism British  
/ kəˈθɒlɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

  1. short for Roman Catholicism

  2. the beliefs, practices, etc, of any Catholic Church

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Catholicism Cultural  
  1. The beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of Catholicism

First recorded in 1600–10; Catholic + -ism

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

In any case, it was only after she converted to Catholicism that Spark wrote “The Comforters.”

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 17, 2026

Throughout the week, Vance was also promoting his new book about his faith and conversion to Catholicism.

From BBC Jun. 19, 2026

The first half of Communion, on Vance’s journey from evangelical Christianity to atheism to Catholicism, takes the reader through his disillusionment with the conservative evangelical churches of his youth.

From Slate Jun. 18, 2026

He picked Catholicism in 2019, in the midst of a lot of online chatter that created the illusion that “trad” Catholics were the next big political trend.

From Salon Jun. 15, 2026

Perhaps that says more about me or my Mexican Catholicism than it says about what actually went on in the classroom.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

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