Meanings
comparative more ecclesiastical · superlative most ecclesiastical · alternative obsolete ecclesiasticall
- Of or pertaining to the church.
ecclesiastical architecture
1 more example
Sodomy had always been an ecclesiastical offense. The Statute of 1533 (25 Henry VIII, c. 6) made it a felony; and Pollock and Maitland consider that this "affords an almost sufficient proof that the temporal courts had not punished it, and that no one had been put to death for it, for a very long time past."
1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)Synonyms: churchical, churchlike, churchly, ecclesial, ecclesiastic, churchical, churchish, churchlike · Antonyms: antiecclesiastical, nonecclesiastical
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf or pertaining to the church.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveof or associated with a church (especially a Christian Church)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinecclēsiasticus
- Middle Englishecclesiasticall, ecclesiasticalle
- Englishecclesiastical
From Middle English ecclesiasticall, ecclesiasticalle, from Latin ecclēsiasticus + -al. By surface analysis, ecclesiastic + -al or ecclesiast + -ical.
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic كَنْسِيّ
- كَنْسِيّ (kansiyy)pertaining to the church
Bulgarian църковен, свещенически
- църковен (cărkoven)pertaining to the church
- свещенически (svešteničeski)pertaining to the church
Catalan eclesiàstic
- eclesiàsticpertaining to the church
Czech církevní
- církevnípertaining to the church
Danish gejstlig, kirke-
- gejstligpertaining to the church
- kirke-pertaining to the church
Dutch ecclesiastisch, kerkelijk
- ecclesiastischpertaining to the church
- kerkelijkpertaining to the church
Esperanto eklezia
- ekleziapertaining to the church
Finnish kirkollinen
- kirkollinenpertaining to the church
French ecclésiastique
- ecclésiastiquepertaining to the church
German kirchlich, geistlich
- kirchlichpertaining to the church
- geistlichpertaining to the church
- sakralpertaining to the church
- Sakral-pertaining to the church
Greek εκκλησιαστικός
- εκκλησιαστικός (ekklisiastikós)pertaining to the church
Hungarian egyházi
- egyházipertaining to the church
Icelandic kirkjulegur
- kirkjulegurpertaining to the church
Indonesian gerejani, gerejawi
- gerejanipertaining to the church
- gerejawipertaining to the church
Irish eaglasta
- eaglastapertaining to the church
Italian ecclesiastico
- ecclesiasticopertaining to the church
Latin ecclēsiasticus
- ecclēsiasticuspertaining to the church
Norwegian Bokmål ekklesiastisk, kirkelig
- ekklesiastiskpertaining to the church
- kirkeligpertaining to the church
Polish kościelny, eklezjalny
- kościelnypertaining to the church
- eklezjalnypertaining to the church
Portuguese eclesiástico, eclesial
- eclesiásticopertaining to the church
- eclesialpertaining to the church
Romanian ecleziastic, bisericesc
- ecleziasticpertaining to the church
- bisericescpertaining to the church
Russian церко́вный
- церко́вный (cerkóvnyj)pertaining to the church
Scottish Gaelic eaglaiseil
- eaglaiseilpertaining to the church
Slovak cirkevný
- cirkevnýpertaining to the church
Spanish eclesiástico, eclesial
- eclesiásticopertaining to the church
- eclesialpertaining to the church
Swahili kikanisa
- kikanisapertaining to the church
Swedish kyrklig, ecklesiastik
- kyrkligpertaining to the church
- ecklesiastikpertaining to the church
Ukrainian церко́вний
- церко́вний (cerkóvnyj)pertaining to the church
Vietnamese (thuộc) giáo hội
- (thuộc) giáo hộipertaining to the church
Cite this entry
ecclesiastical. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ecclesiastical
“ecclesiastical.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ecclesiastical. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ecclesiastical,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ecclesiastical.
Source: ecclesiastical on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.