conventicle

American  

[kuhn-ven-ti-kuhl] / kənˈvɛn tɪ kəl /

noun

1. a secret or unauthorized meeting, especially for religious worship, as those held by Protestant dissenters in England in the 16th and 17th centuries.

2. a place of meeting or assembly, especially a Nonconformist meeting house.

3. Obsolete. a meeting or assembly.

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conventicle British  

/ kənˈvɛntɪkəl /

noun

1. a secret or unauthorized assembly for worship

2. a small meeting house or chapel for a religious assembly, esp of Nonconformists or Dissenters

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Other Word Forms

• conventicler
  noun
• conventicular
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of conventicle

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin conventiculum a small assembly. See convent, -i-, -cle ¹

Example Sentences

To complete the legislative machinery a Conventicle Act was passed this year, declaring all assemblies of more than five persons, besides members of the family, unlawful and seditious.

From Claverhouse by Morris, Mowbray

What two questions did the Covenanters face in attending Conventicle services?

From Sketches of the Covenanters by McFeeters, J. C.

This action was taken at a Conventicle held at Torwood early in the autumn of 1680.

From Sketches of the Covenanters by McFeeters, J. C.

It was a fitting place for such a gathering, for only from the lonely brown hills above could the little cup of Conventicle be seen, nestling in the lap of the hill.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

It was determined to put the Conventicle Act in force against him.

From Fletcher of Madeley by Macdonald, Frederic W.