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secular

Syllabification:

Entry from World dictionary

Pronunciation:/ˈsɛkjʊlə/

adjective

  • 1 not connected with religious or spiritual matters:. secular buildings secular attitudes to death  Contrasted with sacred
  • 2 Christian Church(of clergy) not subject to or bound by religious rule; not belonging to or living in a monastic or other order.  Contrasted with regular
  • 3 Astronomyof or denoting slow changes in the motion of the sun or planets
  • 4 Economics(of a fluctuation or trend) occurring or persisting over an indefinitely long period:there is evidence that the slump is not cyclical but secular
  • 5 occurring once every century or similarly long period (used especially in reference to celebratory games in ancient Rome)

noun

  • a secular priest

Derivatives

secularism

noun

secularist

noun

secularity

Pronunciation:/-ˈlarɪti/
noun

secularization

Pronunciation:/-ˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/
noun

secularize

verb

secularly

adverb

Origin:

Middle English:  secular (sense 1 of the adjective) secular (sense 2 of the adjective) from Old French seculer, from Latin saecularis, from saeculum 'generation, age', used in Christian Latin to mean 'the world' (as opposed to the Church);  secular (sense 3 of the adjective) , secular (sense 4 of the adjective) , secular (sense 5 of the adjective) (early 19th century) from Latin saecularis 'relating to an age or period'

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