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
-
spirituals
plural
-
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
Derived Forms
-
nonspiritualnessnoun
-
spiritualnessnoun
-
antispiritualadjective
-
nonspiritualadjective
-
pseudospiritualadjective
-
quasi-spiritualadjective
-
superspiritualadjective
-
unspiritualadjective
-
antispirituallyadverb
-
nonspirituallyadverb
-
pseudospirituallyadverb
-
quasi-spirituallyadverb
-
spirituallyadverb
-
superspirituallyadverb
-
unspirituallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of spiritual
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Medieval Latin spīrituālis, from Latin spīritu(s) spirit + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
Spiritual things are concerned with sacred matters or religion, affecting the spirit or the soul. Spiritual entities like ghosts lack a material body or substance. Spiritual is the adjective form of the word spirit, which comes from the Latin word for "breath," and means the thing that animates life. Spiritual can be used to talk about anything that goes beyond mere physical existence, from ghost spirits to religious feelings. As a noun, spiritual describes a religious song originating in the African-American culture of the American South.
Vocabulary lists containing spiritual
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." and "I Have a Dream"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
But Parker said that Vance’s recent comments about AI in spiritual terms demonstrate how the vice president is “more comfortable and willing to speak of it in more Christian terms.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
When a Ferrari driver triumphs in F1, the team's spiritual home of Maranello rejoices.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Leaders in Silicon Valley increasingly see ghosts in the machine and speak openly in spiritual terms to a generally secular tech world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Among them are 77 pilgrims from spiritual leader Sadhguru's Isha Foundation, including Europeans, North Americans and Australians.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Unfortunately, these remains tell us very little, as a rule, of the spiritual condition of Neolithic culture.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
Field hollers, blues, ballads, spirituals, game songs, cowboy songs: these are among folk music’s many familiar forms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Orchestra for a prom that includes music by the Charleston-born composer Edmund Thornton Jenkins, one of the first people to introduce elements of jazz and spirituals into the classical repertoire.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026
His mother was an avid singer of spirituals and a next-door neighbor, Lucy Jackson, helped Jones learn to tap out boogie-woogie on the keyboard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2024
Following worldwide protests over Floyd’s 2020 murder by police in Minneapolis, his brother Terrence Floyd joined an effort to fuse rap, gospel and spirituals on an album of protest songs.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 9, 2023
Following the tradition established by Roland Hayes and other African American concert vocalists, she concluded each of her programs with a group of spirituals that often moved her audiences to tears.
From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman
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.
