ecclesiastical
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ecclesiastical
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at Ecclesiastes, -ical
Explanation
Anything ecclesiastical is related to the Christian church. An ecclesiastical office is the office at a church, and a nun’s habit is ecclesiastical dress. A hat with a propeller on top is not. Ecclesiastical things have to do with Christian churches or the clergy. Pews, readings from the Bible, and stained glass windows are all part of the ecclesiastical world. The ecclesiastical hierarchy is the pecking order of the clergy, and high-ranking clergy are considered to be ecclesiastical authorities. Secular is the opposite of ecclesiastical.
Vocabulary lists containing ecclesiastical
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
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"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr.
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World Religions
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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.
With a few strokes of his pencil, Filippo Sorcinelli brought to life a flowing liturgical robe -- fitting for the man whose artistry and faith have cemented an international reputation for one-of-a-kind ecclesiastical attire.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
After the war, Faÿ was sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor, but he escaped from prison in 1951 dressed in ecclesiastical costume, with the help of—here one reaches for the phrase “incredible but true”—Toklas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Since that time, she said she had "remained consistent" in her pursuit of "proper ecclesiastical judicial process".
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2025
Paolo Pierobon plays Pius IX as a reptilian, vengeful theocrat with his own deep-seated fears, borne of ceding ecclesiastical dominion to an increasingly progressive anti-papist world.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2024
The limitation of both ethnic and ecclesiastical modes was that you had to stay in whatever mode you had started in for the duration of the performance.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
