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.
Melchisedek and Ebedmelech were all right elbowing their way into the conventicle, but Melchisedek dispensing half-pounds of butter over the counter, or Ebedmelech carrying milk-pails from door to door, gave people a kind of shock.
From Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature by Bardsley, Charles W.
I have my eyes upon you; and the first conventicle which you hold at the old town of Douglas shall seal your fate.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Vol. XX by Leighton, Alexander
A last conventicle was held at the house of Santerre the brewer, chief of battalion of the National Guard of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, on the night of June 19-20.
From Marie Antoinette and the Downfall of Royalty by Imbert de Saint-Amand, Arthur Léon, baron
We heard that there was to be a field conventicle near by, at which Mr. Cameron was to preach.
From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
Either not a single stole, or not a single conventicle!
From The Works of Honor? de Balzac About Catherine de' Medici, Seraphita and Other Stories by Balzac, Honor? de
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.
