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• church
  church

  noun

  a building for public Christian worship.
• Church
  Church

  noun

  Frederick Edwin, 1826–1900, U.S. painter.

church

¹ American  

[church] / tʃɜrtʃ /

noun

• churches
  plural

1. a building for public Christian worship.

2. public Christian worship of God; a Christian religious service.

   They attend church regularly.

   What time does your church start?

3. none the church or the Church, the whole body of Christian believers.

4. Sometimes Church. any organized group of Christian believers professing the same creed and acknowledging the same ecclesiastical authority; a Christian denomination.

   the Methodist Church.

5. that part of the whole Christian body, or of a particular denomination, belonging to the same city, country, nation, etc..

   The African church was well represented at the international ecumenical conference.

6. a body of Christians worshipping in a particular building or constituting one congregation.

   She is a member of this church.

7. ecclesiastical organization, power, and affairs, as distinguished from the state.

   The separation of church and state is entrenched in the U.S. Constitution.

8. the clergy and religious officials of a Christian denomination.

   The missionary went wherever the church sent him.

9. the Christian faith.

   The early 20th century saw the return of many intellectuals to the church.

10. none the church or the Church, the organized body of professing Christians before the Reformation.

    In a.d. 325, Constantine summoned the leaders of the Church to a conference at Nicaea.

11. the Church, the Roman Catholic Church.

12. the clerical profession or calling.

    After much study and contemplation, he was prepared to enter the church.

13. Sometimes Offensive. any non-Christian religious society, organization, or congregation, or its place of public worship.

    He is part of a Satanist church.

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verb (used with object)

1. to conduct or bring to church, especially for special services.

2. South Midland and Southern U.S. to subject to church discipline.

3. to perform a church service of thanksgiving for (a woman after childbirth).

Church ² American  

[church] / tʃɜrtʃ /

noun

1. Frederick Edwin, 1826–1900, U.S. painter.

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church ¹ British  

/ tʃɜːtʃ /

noun

1. a building designed for public forms of worship, esp Christian worship

2. an occasion of public worship

3. the clergy as distinguished from the laity

4. (usually capital) institutionalized forms of religion as a political or social force

   conflict between Church and State

5. (usually capital) the collective body of all Christians

6. (often capital) a particular Christian denomination or group of Christian believers

7. (often capital) the Christian religion

8. (in Britain) the practices or doctrines of the Church of England and similar denominations Compare chapel

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verb

1. Church of England to bring (someone, esp a woman after childbirth) to church for special ceremonies

2. to impose church discipline upon

Church ² British  

/ tʃɜːtʃ /

noun

1. Charlotte. born 1986, Welsh soprano, who made her name with the album Voice of an Angel (1998) when she was 12

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church Cultural  

1. A group of Christians (see also Christian); church is a biblical word for “assembly.” It can mean any of the following: (1) All Christians, living and dead. (See saints.) (2) All Christians living in the world. (3) One of the large divisions or denominations of Christianity, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, Methodist Church, or Roman Catholic Church. (4) An individual congregation of Christians meeting in one building; also the building itself.

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church Idioms  

1. see poor as a churchmouse.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonchurch
  noun
• antichurch
  adjective
• prochurch
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• churches
  plural

Etymology

Origin of church

First recorded before 900; Middle English chir(i)che, Old English cir(i)ce, ultimately from Greek kȳri(a)kón (dôma) “the Lord's (house),” neuter of kȳriakós “of the master,” from kȳ́ri(os) “master” (from kŷr(os) “power” + -ios, noun suffix) + -akos (variant of -ikos -ic ); akin to Dutch kerk, German Kirche, Old Norse kirkja; see kirk

Explanation

A church is where you go for a public religious service. On Easter, some people go to church to pray. Church derives from the Greek word kuriakon (doma) meaning "Lord's (house)." A public building or place mainly used for worship, a church can be modest in structure and appearance or large and ornate, with stained glass windows and a grand interior. Inside a church, you are said to attend church, which is a service given by a religious official that helps guide worship. Church can also refer to the group of people you see regularly at Sunday's service.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

church Church churches

A horse pulling a carriage passes a church in Baracoa, on Cuba’s eastern tip.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Protesters have remained on the Garvaghy Road, although in much smaller numbers, and the Orange Order have maintained a presence at Drumcree church, about a mile away.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

People sing at a youth event at the Ríos de Agua Viva Christian church in Baracoa.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

The state and church controlled where and how they lived, the type of schooling for children, the language they spoke, and how they could practice their culture, religion and traditional livelihoods, it said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

My eyes picked Karel immediately from the crowd in front of the church, dressed in top hat and tails as were all the male guests, but incomparably the handsomest there.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

He was the senior pastor at Embrace Church in Oxnard and helped found several nonprofit organizations, including the Kingdom Center, which provides emergency housing and transitional living for women and children.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

In 2021, the Lutheran Church of Sweden apologised for centuries of "severe violations of human dignity" against the Sami people.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

The controversy began after media reports that figures in the Catholic Church were concerned about the future status of the saint, who is depicted in Brazil as a black woman.

From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026

A group of men tried to march from Drumcree Church down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown in the early hours of Monday but a line of police Land Rovers stood in the way.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Church Street remained the center of Negro life.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Some churches in and around India's financial capital Mumbai have begun asking worshippers to give a declaration in writing - "I came here to pray of my own free will."

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

I spent many years working with churches in West Germany and later in Germany, and I saw a very different attitude toward government assistance.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026

Latina voters are also more connected with the broader immigrant community through involvement in churches and PTA groups, she noted.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

With a population of about 2,400, it could pass for any number of prairie towns: modest houses and churches, mostly boarded-up storefronts, and a grain elevator towering above everything.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Barack had spent a lot of time in churches during his time as a community organizer, which had left him with an appreciation for organized religion, but at the same time he remained less traditional.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Related Words

• chapel
• mosque
• parish
• sanctuary
• shrine
• synagogue
• temple