catholic

adjective cath·o·lic \ ˈkath-lik , ˈka-thə- \

|Updated on: 29 May 2018

Definition of catholic

1 a often capitalized : of, relating to, or forming the church universal

b often capitalized : of, relating to, or forming the ancient undivided Christian church or a church claiming historical continuity from it

c capitalized : roman catholic

Her son goes to a Catholic school.

2 : comprehensive, universal; especially : broad in sympathies, tastes, or interests

a catholic taste in music

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catholically

play \kə-ˈthä-li-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

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catholicize

play \-ˈthä-lə-ˌsīz\ verb

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Examples of catholic in a Sentence

She is a novelist who is catholic in her interests.
a museum director with catholic tastes in art

Recent Examples of catholic from the Web

But that catholic business model had become much harder to pull off in the face of Amazon’s near-monopoly on e-books and its ever-growing chunk of the physical book market.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "Peter Mayer, the Fiery Sage of Publishing," 23 May 2018
But neither of those talking points come close to summing up a man of relentless, zeitgeisty, catholic creative drive.

— noah johnson, GQ, "Cali Thornhill Dewitt and the Ghosts of Los Angeles," 12 Apr. 2018
Restoration is inherently more ambitious than its partner album, Revamp, which brings in a catholic selection of pop stars to cover John's songs.

— elias leight, Billboard, "Producer Frank Liddell Explains How Bernie Taupin Tested Him for the Elton John Country Tribute Album," 6 Apr. 2018
Roland was a long-time parishioner of Saint Rose Church in East Hartford and was a devoted catholic man.

— hartford courant, courant.com, "Roland Edward Antil," 25 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'catholic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of catholic

Middle English catholik, from Medieval French & Late Latin; Medieval French catholique, from Late Latin catholicus, from Greek katholikos universal, general, from katholou in general, from kata by + holos whole — more at cata-, safe

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year