spiritual
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or consisting of spirit; incorporeal.
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of or relating to the spirit or soul, as distinguished from the physical nature.
a spiritual approach to life.
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closely akin in interests, attitude, outlook, etc..
the professor's spiritual heir in linguistics.
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of or relating to spirits or to spiritualists; supernatural or spiritualistic.
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characterized by or suggesting predominance of the spirit; ethereal or delicately refined.
She is more of a spiritual type than her rowdy brother.
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of or relating to the spirit as the seat of the moral or religious nature.
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of or relating to sacred things or matters; religious; devotional; sacred.
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of or belonging to the church; ecclesiastical.
lords spiritual and temporal.
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of or relating to the mind or intellect.
noun
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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.
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spirituals, affairs of the church.
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a spiritual thing or matter.
adjective
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relating to the spirit or soul and not to physical nature or matter; intangible
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of, relating to, or characteristic of sacred things, the Church, religion, etc
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standing in a relationship based on communication between the souls or minds of the persons involved
a spiritual father
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having a mind or emotions of a high and delicately refined quality
noun
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See Negro spiritual
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(often plural) the sphere of religious, spiritual, or ecclesiastical matters, or such matters in themselves
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the realm of spirits
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonspiritualnessnoun
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spiritualnessnoun
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antispiritualadjective
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nonspiritualadjective
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pseudospiritualadjective
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quasi-spiritualadjective
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superspiritualadjective
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unspiritualadjective
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antispirituallyadverb
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nonspirituallyadverb
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pseudospirituallyadverb
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quasi-spirituallyadverb
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spirituallyadverb
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superspirituallyadverb
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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)
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"Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." and "I Have a Dream"
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Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech
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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:
Religious or spiritual beliefs can also influence one’s reaction to a devastating diagnosis.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
“I was able to organize my work better after I’d got my spiritual life organized,” she told one interviewer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
"He has become a bond in my life, rooted deep in my heart, my spiritual pillar."
From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026
The event, described as being an "opportunity for reflection and spiritual renewal" for followers of Islam, started on Friday and was meant to end on Sunday afternoon.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
“We’re working on the spinal ganglia, too. Someday the Boneli test will fade into yesterday’s hoary shroud of spiritual oblivion.”
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Hip-hop is their common language, but Robinson is also fluent in blues and spirituals while Quijada speaks forcefully through Mexican folk rhythms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 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
And while Anglo-American lullabies are typically written in major keys, Gershwin chose a minor one—evoking the depth and dignity of such African-American spirituals as “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
The evening, hosted by Sunny Hostin of “The View,” continued — as all Ailey celebrations do — with the signature “Revelations,” Ailey’s masterpiece set to spirituals and gospel and blues music.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 30, 2023
Mom was always going to thrift stores and coming back with old albums of polka music, Negro spirituals, German marching bands, Italian operas, and cattle roundup songs.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
