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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. 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 ² 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 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

Still pending are the sculpting of the south-facing Glory façade, the eventual front of the church, celebrating Christ triumphant, and the addition of a grand entrance staircase envisioned by Gaudí.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Suppose a 76-year-old has a $40,000 RMD and gives $15,000 a year to her church and two other charities.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

At the nation’s founding, “the fear was religious tyranny of one particular church over others,” she said.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026

As one local puts it, there's a "church on every street" of the Appalchian community of Kingsport, in the US state of Tennessee.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

I zoom in on a group of church ladies with big hats and Bibles tucked under their arms.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Many Church of England clergy independently owned slaves, and a recent report by the Church's endowment fund reported the institution made large investments in the slave trade from which it made huge sums of money.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

"The Church of England has apologised for the part that we played in the transatlantic slave trade but we've also said there needs to be action that relates to that," Archbishop Sarah said.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Some of the busier sites, such as Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, are mostly visited by pilgrims from Russia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

“People feel like they’re imprisoned in their own neighborhood,” said Kyron Shorter, senior pastor at Bethesda Temple Church.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

If Bobby did wish to become Catholic, it’s possible that aspiration was sufficient for him to have been accepted into the Church, at least by less conservative clergy.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

The Rev Paul Cawthorne, priest in charge of churches in the Hadnall area, is also a long time environmental campaigner.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

When New York state enacted buffer-zone protections in May, the coalition that organizes disruptive gatherings outside synagogues and churches published a victory statement.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The organization brings together dozens of Black churches on social justice issues, including voter education.

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

Texas churches also spoke out against inequality during the Gilded Age — a late 19th-century period of rapid industrial growth that produced extreme wealth inequality, Locke said.

From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026

Like most churches on the North Shore, this one suffered from a lack of air-conditioning and we were all sweating in our best clothes.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

Related Words

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