churchly
/t͡ʃɝt͡ʃ.li/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.06 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Pertaining to or relating to the church, its government, forms, or ceremonies; ecclesiastical.
adj
Devoted to, or inclined to attach great importance to, the order and ritual of a particular section of the Christian church.
adj
In accordance with ecclesiastical standards or ceremonies; appropriate for or befitting a church.
adj
Characteristic of a church; churchy.
Example Sentences
- "[...] upon getting their hearts right in the sight of God, confident, meanwhile, that then all churchly things would not only be conserved, but gathered into right form."
- "There are gays and lesbians within the Church who steadfastly refuse to leave it, be booted out, or be closeted within it. Their churchly involvement, in this sense, ought not to be merely a matter of curiosity to the non-religious."
- "And in the Smiths of Stratford, in Suffolk, of whom we would now discourse, a middle class family of no great opulence, we have signs of the churchly instinct passing down from generation to generation, [...]"
- "churchly music"
- "The church was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, in the tent of Abraham, and in the palace of David. It must be in every Christian home, and every Christian home must be in the church. In a word, our families must be churchly."
Etymology
From Middle English *chirchely, *chirchelich, from Old English ċiriclīċ (“ecclesiastical”), equivalent to church + -ly. Cognate with Scots kirkly (“ecclesiastical”), Dutch kerkelijk (“ecclesiastic, ecclesiastical”), German kirchlich (“ecclesiastical, religious, ecclesiastic”), Swedish kyrklig (“ecclesiastical”). Compare also churchlike.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *chirchely, ċiriclīċ
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /t͡ʃɝt͡ʃ.li/
- British English: /t͡ʃɜːt͡ʃ.li/
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
anti-churchly