spiritual

[spir-i-choo-uhl]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal.

2. of or relating to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature.

   a spiritual approach to life.

3. closely akin in interests, attitude, outlook, etc..

   the professor's spiritual heir in linguistics.

4. of or relating to spirits or to spiritualists; supernatural or spiritualistic.

5. characterized by or suggesting predominance of the spirit; ethereal or delicately refined.

   She is more of a spiritual type than her rowdy brother.

6. of or relating to the spirit as the seat of the moral or religious nature.

7. of or relating to sacred things or matters; religious; devotional; sacred.

8. of or belonging to the church; ecclesiastical.

   lords spiritual and temporal.

9. of or relating to the mind or intellect.

noun

1. a spiritual or religious song, especially one composed by and for Black Americans during the period of legalized slavery in the United States.

   Spirituals like “Go Down, Moses” were sometimes used as signals on the Underground Railroad.

2. spirituals, affairs of the church.

3. a spiritual thing or matter.

spiritual

/ ˈspɪrɪtjʊəl /

adjective

1. relating to the spirit or soul and not to physical nature or matter; intangible

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of sacred things, the Church, religion, etc

3. standing in a relationship based on communication between the souls or minds of the persons involved

   a spiritual father

4. having a mind or emotions of a high and delicately refined quality

noun

1. See Negro spiritual

2. (often plural) the sphere of religious, spiritual, or ecclesiastical matters, or such matters in themselves

3. the realm of spirits

Other Word Forms

• spiritually adverb
• spiritualness noun
• antispiritual adjective
• antispiritually adverb
• nonspiritual adjective
• nonspiritually adverb
• nonspiritualness noun
• pseudospiritual adjective
• pseudospiritually adverb
• quasi-spiritual adjective
• quasi-spiritually adverb
• superspiritual adjective
• superspiritually adverb
• unspiritual adjective
• unspiritually adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of spiritual¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Medieval Latin spīrituālis, from Latin spīritu(s) spirit + -ālis -al ¹

Example Sentences

LONDON—Sarah Mullally was named as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the Anglican Church, on Friday, making her its first female leader in its nearly 500-year history.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

She has encouraged conservative Christians to become involved in what she’s described as “a spiritual war” over children and what they’re being taught in public schools.

Read more on Salon

It’s a decision that was partly spiritual: when the world feels unmoored, it seemed perhaps worth remembering that our predecessors relied on the seasons as enveloping promises of change.

Read more on Salon

Over the course of a hot summer day, four hairdressers and a young receptionist spar and bond with each other and a parade of customers who arrive seeking transformation both physical and spiritual.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

During this time, many were considered cursed by the devil in Alpine folklore, their advances linked to spiritual forces as they threatened hamlets and farmland.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• divine 
• metaphysical 
• sacred