pastoral

American  

[pas-ter-uhl, pah-ster-] / ˈpæs tər əl, ˈpɑ stər- /

adjective

1. having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas.

   pastoral scenery; the pastoral life.

   Synonyms:

   simple, rural, rustic

2. pertaining to the country or to life in the country; rural; rustic.

3. portraying or suggesting idyllically the life of shepherds or of the country, as a work of literature, art, or music.

   pastoral poetry; a pastoral symphony.

   Synonyms:

   idyllic, bucolic

4. of, relating to, or consisting of shepherds.

5. of or relating to a pastor or the duties of a pastor.

   pastoral visits to a hospital.

6. used for pasture, as land.

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noun

1. a poem, play, or the like, dealing with the life of shepherds, commonly in a conventional or artificial manner, or with simple rural life generally; a bucolic.

   Synonyms:

   georgic, idyll, eclogue

2. a picture or work of art representing the shepherds' life.

3. Music. pastorale.

4. a treatise on the duties of a pastor.

5. a letter to the people from their spiritual pastor.

6. a letter to the clergy or people of an ecclesiastical district from its bishop.

7. Also called pastoral staff.  crosier.

pastoral British  

/ ˈpɑːstərəl /

adjective

1. of, characterized by, or depicting rural life, scenery, etc

2. (of a literary work) dealing with an idealized form of rural existence in a conventional way

3. (of land) used for pasture

4. denoting or relating to the branch of theology dealing with the duties of a clergyman or priest to his congregation

5. of or relating to a clergyman or priest in charge of a congregation or his duties as such

6. of or relating to a teacher's responsibility for the personal, as the distinct from the educational, development of pupils

7. of or relating to shepherds, their work, etc

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noun

1. a literary work or picture portraying rural life, esp the lives of shepherds in an idealizing way See also eclogue

2. music a variant of pastorale

3. Christianity

   1. a letter from a clergyman to the people under his charge

   2. the letter of a bishop to the clergy or people of his diocese

   3. Also called: pastoral staff.  the crosier or staff carried by a bishop as a symbol of his pastoral responsibilities

pastoral Cultural  

1. A work of art that celebrates the cultivated enjoyment of the countryside. The poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” by Christopher Marlowe, is a pastoral. Its first stanza reads:

   Come live with me, and be my love;

   And we will all the pleasures prove

   That hills and valleys, dales and fields,

   Woods or steepy mountain yields.

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Other Word Forms

• pastoralism
  noun
• nonpastoral
  adjective
• semipastoral
  adjective
• unpastoral
  adjective
• nonpastorally
  adverb
• pastorally
  adverb
• semipastorally
  adverb
• unpastorally
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of pastoral

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin pāstōrālis, equivalent to pāstōr-, stem of pāstor ( see pastor) + -ālis -al ¹

Explanation

Use the adjective pastoral to describe the countryside, particularly an idealized view of the country. If you draw cheery pictures with lush fields, calm skies, cheerful bunnies, and colorful wildflowers, you draw pastoral scenes. Pastoral can also describe something done by, you guessed it, a pastor. If a pastor writes a letter to his congregation, it is a pastoral letter. How are the two meanings of pastoral related? Shepherds, of course. Pastors are often referred to as shepherds of their flock (i.e., the members of their church congregation). Actual shepherds, the kind who tend sheep, work in pastoral settings.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pastoral

And then there’s the biggest pothole of all on the road to pastoral wonder:

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2026

He said he offered whatever pastoral care he could to help the woman concerned – as well as assisting Rev McCartney as he tried to support her.

From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026

Its baroque, acoustic sounds of a pastoral countryside in ye olde England mesh disturbingly well with softly sung, darkly opaque lyrics.

From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026

As the smooth highway north of Seville stretched into the vastness of pastoral Extremadura, the chances of finding a lynx, which remains rarer than the snow leopard or the Bengal tiger, felt impossibly small.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

One showed a pastoral scene so three-dimensional, it could’ve been a window.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• agrarian
• bucolic
• idyllic
• rural
• rustic