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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

Its inauguration comes at a time when the influence of the Catholic church on public life in Poland has declined.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Instead, the anniversary merely signaled an important milestone: the completion, in February, of the central Tower of Jesus Christ, which made the Sagrada Família the world’s tallest church.

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

On a recent Sunday, he officiated a packed Mass at the church of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle in Macuto, a city known for its seaside boulevard.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 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

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

"For me that is such a stark illustration of the way the Church was involved in the slave trade," she says.

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

Worshipers gather for a recent Sunday Mass at the St. Bartholomew the Apostle Church, which lost more than 200 parishioners in the quakes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

The publication of De Revolutionibus was accepted essentially without a murmur by the Catholic Church, and the book was largely ignored by Rome for the rest of the sixteenth century.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

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

That hostility from politicians, churches, medicine, and public opinion found its echo in dismissal by the courts.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

In churches and club rooms and private homes in those desperate days, I told the truths Betsie and I had learned in Ravensbruck.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

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