Standard Lemma guide

ecclesiastical

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Canada: /əˌkli.ziˈæ.stə.kəl/
  • UK: /əˈkliː.ziˌæ.stɪ.kəl/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH0 K L IY2 Z IY0 AE1 S T IH0 K AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or pertaining to the church.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • ecclesiastical architecture

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: churchical, churchlike, churchly, ecclesial, ecclesiastic

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

of or associated with a church (especially a Christian Church)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • ecclesiastic history

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ecclesiastic

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English ecclesiasticall, ecclesiasticalle, from Latin ecclēsiasticus + -al. By surface analysis, ecclesiastic + -al or ecclesiast + -ical.

Across languages

Translations

53 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: kishtar — pertaining to the church
  • Arabic: كَنْسِيّ (kansiyy) — pertaining to the church
  • Armenian: եկեղեցական (ekeġecʻakan) — pertaining to the church
  • Asturian: eclesiásticu — pertaining to the church
  • Belarusian: царко́ўны (carkówny) — pertaining to the church
  • Bulgarian: църковен (cǎrkoven) — pertaining to the church
  • Bulgarian: свещенически (svešteničeski) — pertaining to the church
  • Catalan: eclesiàstic — pertaining to the church
  • Czech: církevní — pertaining to the church
  • Danish: gejstlig — pertaining to the church
  • Danish: kirke- — pertaining to the church
  • Dutch: ecclesiastisch — pertaining to the church
  • Dutch: kerkelijk — pertaining to the church
  • Esperanto: eklezia — pertaining to the church
  • Finnish: kirkollinen — pertaining to the church
  • French: ecclésiastique — pertaining to the church
  • Galician: eclesiástico — pertaining to the church
  • German: kirchlich — pertaining to the church
  • German: geistlich — pertaining to the church
  • German: sakral — pertaining to the church
  • German: Sakral- — pertaining to the church
  • Greek: εκκλησιαστικός (ekklisiastikós) — pertaining to the church
  • Hungarian: egyházi — pertaining to the church
  • Icelandic: kirkjulegur — pertaining to the church
  • Indonesian: gerejani — pertaining to the church
  • Indonesian: gerejawi — pertaining to the church
  • Irish: eaglasta — pertaining to the church
  • Italian: ecclesiastico — pertaining to the church
  • Kazakh: шіркеулік (şırkeulık) — pertaining to the church
  • Latin: ecclēsiasticus — pertaining to the church
  • Macedonian: цр́ковен (cŕkoven) — pertaining to the church
  • Manx: agglishagh — pertaining to the church
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ekklesiastisk — pertaining to the church
  • Norwegian Bokmål: kirkelig — pertaining to the church
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: ekklesiastisk — pertaining to the church
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: kyrkjeleg — pertaining to the church
  • Old English: ċiriclīċ — pertaining to the church
  • Polish: kościelny — pertaining to the church
  • Polish: eklezjalny — pertaining to the church
  • Portuguese: eclesiástico — pertaining to the church
  • Portuguese: eclesial — pertaining to the church
  • Romanian: ecleziastic — pertaining to the church
  • Romanian: bisericesc — pertaining to the church
  • Russian: церко́вный (cerkóvnyj) — pertaining to the church
  • Scottish Gaelic: eaglaiseil — pertaining to the church
  • Slovak: cirkevný — pertaining to the church
  • Spanish: eclesiástico — pertaining to the church
  • Spanish: eclesial — pertaining to the church
  • Swahili: kikanisa — pertaining to the church
  • Swedish: kyrklig — pertaining to the church
  • Swedish: ecklesiastik — pertaining to the church
  • Ukrainian: церко́вний (cerkóvnyj) — pertaining to the church
  • Vietnamese: (thuộc) giáo hội — pertaining to the church
Real reading context

ecclesiastical in complete knowledge articles