Opus Dei

proper noun

The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, a Roman Catholic organization composed of a prelate, secular clergy and lay people, whose mission is to spread the Catholic teaching that everyone is called to become a saint; its lay members, men and women, engage in the affairs of the world and seek to direct them "according to God's will".

OriginLatin opus deī →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun
  1. CatholicismThe Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, a Roman Catholic organization composed of a prelate, secular clergy and lay people, whose mission is to spread the Catholic teaching that everyone is called to become a saint; its lay members, men and women, engage in the affairs of the world and seek to direct them "according to God's will".

    Prevost moved up the ranks of the local church whose bishops were split between leftists, heavily influenced by Latin America's liberation theology, and arch-conservatives with close ties to Opus Dei.

    2025 May 10, “Chicagoan pope not afraid of speaking truth to power in US”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3

Origin

  1. Latinopus deī
  2. EnglishOpus Dei

From Latin opus deī (literally “work of god”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Opus Dei. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Opus%20Dei

MLA

“Opus Dei.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Opus%20Dei. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Opus Dei,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Opus%20Dei.

Source: Opus Dei on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.