spiritual
Americanadjective
-
of, relating to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal.
-
of or relating to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature.
a spiritual approach to life.
-
closely akin in interests, attitude, outlook, etc..
the professor's spiritual heir in linguistics.
-
of or relating to spirits or to spiritualists; supernatural or spiritualistic.
-
characterized by or suggesting predominance of the spirit; ethereal or delicately refined.
She is more of a spiritual type than her rowdy brother.
-
of or relating to the spirit as the seat of the moral or religious nature.
-
of or relating to sacred things or matters; religious; devotional; sacred.
-
of or belonging to the church; ecclesiastical.
lords spiritual and temporal.
-
of or relating to the mind or intellect.
noun
-
a spiritual or religious song, especially one composed by and for Black Americans during the period of legalized slavery in the United States.
Spirituals like “Go Down, Moses” were sometimes used as signals on the Underground Railroad.
-
spirituals, affairs of the church.
-
a spiritual thing or matter.
adjective
-
relating to the spirit or soul and not to physical nature or matter; intangible
-
of, relating to, or characteristic of sacred things, the Church, religion, etc
-
standing in a relationship based on communication between the souls or minds of the persons involved
a spiritual father
-
having a mind or emotions of a high and delicately refined quality
noun
-
See Negro spiritual
-
(often plural) the sphere of religious, spiritual, or ecclesiastical matters, or such matters in themselves
-
the realm of spirits
Other Word Forms
- antispiritual adjective
- antispiritually adverb
- nonspiritual adjective
- nonspiritually adverb
- nonspiritualness noun
- pseudospiritual adjective
- pseudospiritually adverb
- quasi-spiritual adjective
- quasi-spiritually adverb
- spiritually adverb
- spiritualness noun
- superspiritual adjective
- superspiritually adverb
- unspiritual adjective
- unspiritually adverb
Etymology
Origin of spiritual
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Medieval Latin spīrituālis, from Latin spīritu(s) spirit + -ālis -al 1
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.
One almost gets a sense that the great doers of history were like robots, temporarily inhabited by an otherworldly spiritual force or, alternatively, were stick figures that Hegel moved about on his grandiose world-historical tableau.
From Salon • Mar. 28, 2026
The seats symbolise the dual responsibilities of the role -- as a bishop in the diocese of Canterbury and as the spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide.
From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026
There is only one Oracle of Omaha, though many have laid claim to a role as his spiritual successor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
The pursuit of revenge takes a spiritual tax on a person that can sometimes cost more than they’ve bargained for, and we see the unraveling effects of that in “The Exes.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026
Juan and her grandpa, talking endlessly about all these deep spiritual things, whole other worlds that Sierra had been completely excluded from.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
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.
