conventicle
Americannoun
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a secret or unauthorized meeting, especially for religious worship, as those held by Protestant dissenters in England in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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a place of meeting or assembly, especially a Nonconformist meeting house.
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Obsolete. a meeting or assembly.
noun
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a secret or unauthorized assembly for worship
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a small meeting house or chapel for a religious assembly, esp of Nonconformists or Dissenters
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of conventicle
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin conventiculum a small assembly. See convent, -i-, -cle 1
Vocabulary lists containing conventicle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He sneered at most things, but not at his own order, and he came to defend the church and the country Swift. squirearchy against the conventicle and Capel court.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 6 "English Language" to "Epsom Salts" by Various
The lower room of the ground floor, a hall with a large fireplace and surrounded with benches and tables, had served in the last century as a meeting-place for a conventicle of French Protestant refugees.
From Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
Also, though there is no church, there are two chapels; one of retiring position, the other conventicle of aggressive and red, red brick.
From The Brighton Road The Classic Highway to the South by Charles G. (Charles George) Harper
Another remarkable example of the constancy of Penn is recorded, in the history of his trial, before the Lord Mayor, for a breach of the conventicle act, in 1670.
From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by A Sexton of the Old School
In the height of his resentment he addressed first one, and then another, "What, have you been to the conventicle?"
From Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire with biographical notices of their pastors, and some account of the puritan ministers who laboured in the county. by Thomas Coleman
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