How do you pronounce secular?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈsɛkjələɹ/.

Where does secular come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

secular

/ˈsɛkjələɹ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.95 in modern English

Syllables: sec-u-lar
IPA: /ˈsɛkjələɹ/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Not specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical.

adj

Temporal; worldly, or otherwise not based on something timeless.

adj

Not bound by the vows of a religious order.

adj

Happening once in an age or century.

adj

Continuing over a long period of time.

adj

Centuries-old, ancient.

Literary

adj

Relating to long-term non-periodic irregularities, especially in planetary motion or magnetic field.

adj

Unperturbed over time.

Example Sentences

"Near-synonym: nonmonastic"
"secular clergy in Catholicism"
"Near-synonyms: centurial, centennial"
"The secular games of ancient Rome were held to mark the end of a saeculum and the beginning of the next."
"The long-term growth in population and income accounts for most secular trends in economic phenomena."
"on a secular basis"

Etymology

From Middle English seculer, from Old French seculer, from Latin saeculāris (“of the age”), from saeculum.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: seculer, saeculāris

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈsɛkjələɹ/
British English: /ˈsɛkjʊlə/

Usage

Literary

Inflected Forms

more secular (comparative) most secular (superlative) sæcular (alternative, archaic) seculars (plural)

Derived Forms

antisecular intersecular intrasecular multisecular palaeosecular paleosecular plurisecular postsecular presecular pseudosecular secularisation secularism

Phrases

pro-secular secular arm secular clergy secular equilibrium secular progressivism secular religion secular resonance Secular Zionism

Frequently Paired Words

fin de siècle secle material mundane practical quotidian rational atheistic

Synonyms

areligious temporal worldly chronological nonmonastic centurial centennial long-term nonsecular plurisecular multisecular civil

Antonyms

nonsecular religious sacred monastic regular short-term cyclical eternal everlasting frequent unpredictable non-recurring

Rhymes With

molecular intermolecular