congregation
[ kong-gri-gey-shuh n ]
/ ˌkɒŋ grɪˈgeɪ ʃən /
noun
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RELATED WORDS
throng, crowd, parish, gathering, audience, flock, confab, laity, assembly, muster, turnout, company, aggregation, collection, host, multitude, sit-in, meet, following, group
Nearby words
- congratulations,
- congratulatory,
- congregant,
- congregate,
- congregate housing,
- congregational,
- congregational church,
- congregationalism,
- congregationalists,
- congress
Origin of congregation
1300–50; Middle English congregacio(u)n (< Anglo-French) < Latin congregātiōn- (stem of congregātiō); see congregate, -ion
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for congregation
congregation
/ (ˌkɒŋɡrɪˈɡeɪʃən) /
noun
a group of persons gathered for worship, prayer, etc, esp in a church or chapel
the act of congregating or collecting together
a group of people, objects, etc, collected together; assemblage
the group of persons habitually attending a given church, chapel, etc
RC Church
- a society of persons who follow a common rule of life but who are bound only by simple vows
- Also called: dicastery an administrative subdivision of the papal curia
- an administrative committee of bishops for arranging the business of a general council
mainly British an assembly of senior members of a university
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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congregation
mid-14c., "a gathering, assembly," from Old French congregacion (12c., Modern French congrégation), from Latin congregationem (nominative congregatio), noun of action from congregare (see congregate).
Used by Tyndale to translate Greek ekklesia in New Testament and by some Old Testament translators in place of synagoge. (Vulgate uses a variety of words in these cases, including congregatio but also ecclesia, vulgus, synagoga, populus.) Protestant reformers in 16c. used it in place of church; hence the word's main modern sense of "local society of believers" (1520s).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper