secular

[sek-yuh-ler]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR secular ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of or relating to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred; temporal: secular interests.

not pertaining to or connected with religion (opposed to sacred): secular music.

(of education, a school, etc.) concerned with nonreligious subjects.

(of members of the clergy) not belonging to a religious order; not bound by monastic vows (opposed to regular).

occurring or celebrated once in an age or century: the secular games of Rome.

going on from age to age; continuing through long ages.

noun

a layperson.

one of the secular clergy.

Origin of secular

1250–1300; < Medieval Latin sēculāris, Late Latin saeculāris worldly, temporal (opposed to eternal), Latin: of an age, equivalent to Latin saecul(um) long period of time + -āris -ar¹; replacing Middle English seculer < Old French < Latin, as above

Related formssec·u·lar·ly, adverbnon·sec·u·lar, adjectivepre·sec·u·lar, adjectivesu·per·sec·u·lar, adjectivesu·per·sec·u·lar·ly, adverbun·sec·u·lar, adjectiveun·sec·u·lar·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for secular

civil, materialistic, worldly, temporal, material, lay, profane, earthly, laic, nonreligious

Examples from the Web for secular

Contemporary Examples of secular

He advocates a secular regime with a total separation of religion form the government.
Behind Bars for the Holidays: 11 Political Prisoners We Want to See Free In 2015
Movements.Org
December 25, 2014
So here, for your Christmas Eve pleasure, are 20 of my favorites, 10 from the ecclesiastical division and 10 secular.
Yes, I Like Christmas Music. Stop Laughing.
Michael Tomasky
December 24, 2014
From the religious (‘The Holly and the Ivy’) to the secular (‘The Chipmunk Song’), my top 20.
Yes, I Like Christmas Music. Stop Laughing.
Michael Tomasky
December 24, 2014
That is what conservative organizations, religious and secular, have done for centuries.
Church Sex Scandals Are Rooted in Theology
Jay Michaelson
December 15, 2014
A secular police state well practiced in suppressing internal challenges.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Dec. 14
PunditFact.com
December 14, 2014

Historical Examples of secular

As we have said, India is a land where the secular does not appeal.
Lotus Buds
Amy Carmichael
Of course, regarding the secular advantages of the colony, we cannot speak.
Leading Articles on Various Subjects
Hugh Miller
Valuable modern and secular books have been added to these collections from time to time.
Aztec Land
Maturin M. Ballou
Boye was a gifted writer, both on secular and religious themes.
Hymns and Hymnwriters of Denmark
Jens Christian Aaberg
It must not, however, be supposed that New England had no secular music.
Annals of Music in America
Henry Charles Lahee

British Dictionary definitions for secular

secular

adjective

of or relating to worldly as opposed to sacred things; temporal

not concerned with or related to religion

not within the control of the Church

(of an education, etc)

having no particular religious affinities
not including compulsory religious studies or services

(of clerics) not bound by religious vows to a monastic or other order

occurring or appearing once in an age or century

lasting for a long time

astronomy occurring slowly over a long period of timethe secular perturbation of a planet's orbit

noun

a member of the secular clergy

another word for layman

Derived Formssecularly, adverb

Word Origin for secular

C13: from Old French seculer, from Late Latin saeculāris temporal, from Latin: concerning an age, from saeculum an age

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for secular

adj.

c.1300, "living in the world, not belonging to a religious order," also "belonging to the state," from Old French seculer (Modern French séculier), from Late Latin saecularis "worldly, secular, pertaining to a generation or age," from Latin saecularis "of an age, occurring once in an age," from saeculum "age, span of time, generation."

According to Watkins, this is probably from PIE *sai-tlo-, with instrumental element *-tlo- + *sai- "to bind, tie" (see sinew), extended metaphorically to successive human generations as links in the chain of life. Another theory connects it with words for "seed," from PIE root *se- "to sow" (see sow (v.), and cf. Gothic mana-seþs "mankind, world," literally "seed of men").

Used in ecclesiastical writing like Greek aion "of this world" (see cosmos). It is source of French siècle. Ancient Roman ludi saeculares was a three-day, day-and-night celebration coming once in an "age" (120 years). In English, in reference to humanism and the exclusion of belief in God from matters of ethics and morality, from 1850s.

secular in Culture

secular

[(sek-yuh-luhr)]

Not concerned with religion or religious matters. Secular is the opposite of sacred.

Note

Secularization refers to the declining influence of religion and religious values within a given culture. Secular humanism means, loosely, a belief in human self-sufficiency.