broad or wide-ranging in tastes, interests, or the like; having sympathies with all; broad-minded; liberal.
universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all.
pertaining to the whole Christian body or church.
of or relating to a Catholic church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.
Theology.
(among Roman Catholics) claiming to possess exclusively the notes or characteristics of the one, only, true, and universal church having unity, visibility, indefectibility, apostolic succession, universality, and sanctity: used in this sense, with these qualifications, only by the Church of Rome, as applicable only to itself and its adherents and to their faith and organization; often qualified, especially by those not acknowledging these claims, by prefixing the word Roman.
(among Anglo-Catholics) noting or pertaining to the conception of the church as the body representing the ancient undivided Christian witness, comprising all the orthodox churches that have kept the apostolic succession of bishops, and including the Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Church of Sweden, the Old Catholic Church (in the Netherlands and elsewhere), etc.
pertaining to the Western Church.
denoting or relating to the entire body of Christians, esp to the Church before separation into the Greek or Eastern and Latin or Western Churches
denoting or relating to the Latin or Western Church after this separation
denoting or relating to the Roman Catholic Church
denoting or relating to any church, belief, etc, that claims continuity with or originates in the ancient undivided Church
universal; relating to all men; all-inclusive
comprehensive in interests, tastes, etc; broad-minded; liberal
First recorded in 1300–1350; Middle English, from Latin catholicus, from Greek katholikós “general,” from kathól(ou) “universally” (contraction of phrase katà hólou “according to the whole”; see cata-, holo-) + -ikos -ic
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English; special use of catholic
When capitalized, Catholic refers to the Catholic Church. With a lower-case "c," catholic means "universal" and "inclusive." If you listen to anything from hip-hop to Baroque, you have catholic taste in music. When it entered the English language in the sixteenth century, catholic simply meant "general" or "common." Applied to the Western Church, it essentially meant "the Church universal," or the whole body of Christian believers, as opposed to separate congregations. After the Reformation, the Western Church called itself the Catholic Church to distinguish itself from communities of faith that were no longer obedient to Rome. This usage remains the most common, although you can still use catholic to mean general.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Not every editor is quite as catholic with a little c, as ecumenical, as excited about such a range of writing as I am.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
BBC News NI has learned that a young mother from the catholic community fled her home three weeks ago, claiming her children were subjected to sectarian abuse.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2025
When she spoke to wide audiences, her language was careful and catholic; one often had the sense that she was trying to say as little as possible beyond her talking points.
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2024
Last week, a catholic priest at a West Side parish cited Flacco’s unforeseen arrival while giving his sermon during a Mass to celebrate the Epiphany.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
But a strange and catholic selection of citizens tiptoed to the chapel door and peered in and went away—lawyers and laborers and clerks and bank tellers, most of them past middle age.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
He also hosted The Heaven and Earth Show and fronted documentaries including Absolute Truth, a four-part BBC Two series about the Catholic Church.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
While in the Philippines, he attended UNO-R Senior High, a private, Catholic university, according to his Facebook page.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Gerry’s best friend was a Catholic priest known as Father Dan, a bland-seeming cleric whose family is connected to organized crime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The National Catholic Review said his "personal biography of bridge-building cultures and continents" could make him "a compelling contender for the church's top job".
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
His sermons were given in a small Catholic church—St. Jean Bosco in Port-au-Prince—which had become the progressive, liberation theology church in Haiti.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
"From this far-flung corner of Europe on the Mediterranean Sea, one can more clearly perceive the momentous challenge that the phenomenon of migration poses to European societies," the Pope told Catholics on the island.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández issued a statement calling on Catholics around the world to abstain from attending Mass with the group.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
The Society of Saint Pius X comprises fundamentalist Catholics who strongly oppose the liberal reforms imposed by the Vatican II Council in the 1960s.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
While all other followers of Jesus, from Quakers to Catholics, were officially designated as variations of “Christian,” Mormons did not enjoy the Christian label.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
The word spread fast among so-called “liberal” Catholics, Jews, Protestants, and laborites: it was “democratic” to join this black March.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
