Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

churchly

play
adjective church·ly \ˈchərch-lē\

Definition of churchly

  1. 1 :  of or relating to a church churchly authority

  2. 2 :  suitable to or suggestive of a church a churchly setting

  3. 3 :  adhering to a church a churchly community

  4. 4 :  churchy 1

churchliness

noun

Explore M-W

alt-597233d35a146
Trending: 'Scaramouch,' Scaramucci Possibly to Fandango
emoji-the-quiz
The Emoji Quiz
video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066
image386126722
Words That Come From the Dinner Table

Examples of churchly in a Sentence

  1. refused to discuss churchly matters except on Sundays

First Known Use of churchly

before 12th century

churchly Synonyms

Synonyms
ecclesiastical, ecclesial, ecclesiastic
Antonyms
nonchurch, nonecclesiastical
Related Words
blessed (also blest), consecrated, divine, hallowed, holy, religious, sacramental, sacred, sacrosanct, sanctified; apostolic, canonical, clerical, episcopal, evangelical (also evangelic), ministerial, papal, pastoral, patriarchal, pontifical, priestly, rabbinic (or rabbinical), sacerdotal
Near Antonyms
lay, profane, secular, temporal; nonclerical; nondenominational, nonsectarian

Learn More about churchly

  1. Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for churchly

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up churchly? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

advise

play

to counsel, recommend, or inform

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. scaramouch A new White House communications director

  2. non sequitur “It does not follow”

  3. admiral's mast A massive search ends with an 'admiral's mast'.

  4. calumny 'An untrue statement that is made to damage someone's reputation'

  5. kakistocracy Frustrated Twitter users have been searching for this word.

SEE ALL

BROWSE DICTIONARY

churchly

Test Your Vocabulary

The Emoji Quiz

  • emoji-the-quiz
  • What phase of the moon is this: 🌖 ?
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Bee Cubed

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

alt-59721dd897313
The 'Best' Way to Sign Off On An E-mail

Give them your best

image386126722
Words and Phrases That Come from the Dinner Table

Fill your plate with these surprising food words

ghost-being-disinvited-from-party
'Disinvite' or 'Uninvite'?

A disinvited guest is an uninvited problem

alt-596f730ceb5ae
Words We're Watching: 'Scoby'

Kombucha lovers unite.

Ask the Editors

video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066

Or, Why Pig Meat is Called 'Pork' and Cow Meat is Called 'Beef'

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?

Don't get us started on 'bimonthly'

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

emoji-the-quiz
The Emoji Quiz

Think you’re an emoji 👓 expert? Let’s see 🤔

Take the quiz
image941935269
A Game of Thrones Word Quiz

In the Game of Thrones quiz, you learn some new vocabulary. (It’s quite safe, really. You will not die.)

Take the quiz
Spell It
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Take the quiz
Bee Cubed
Bee Cubed

Listen to the words and spell through all three levels.

Play the game
Examples: churchly in a Sentence