1
as in rural
of, relating to, associated with, or typical of open areas with few buildings or people
painted a pastoral scene of a flower-filled meadow
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ministerial
of, relating to, or characteristic of the clergy
pastoral advice to a young couple preparing to marry
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in pastorale
Related Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pastoral
CBS News, 20 Mar. 2026
Last year, Morris pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child, and Schott’s pastoral lineage became something of a liability.
—Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2026
Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean, 11 Sep. 2025
His voice is the ghost in the machine, a strangely humane presence amid all the urban-industrial pastoral.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pastoral
Adjective
Under his ruling, clergy will be allowed in-person pastoral visits to all detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the site of frequent protests over roughly the 3,000 federal officers who had surged into the state at the height of the crackdown.
—CBS News, 20 Mar. 2026
Last year, Morris pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child, and Schott’s pastoral lineage became something of a liability.
—Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2026
Noun
The pastoral, yet bittersweet lament has turned into something of an emotionally restorative California wildfire reflection.
—Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean, 11 Sep. 2025
His voice is the ghost in the machine, a strangely humane presence amid all the urban-industrial pastoral.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pastoral
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pastoral
Adjective
-
Organizers said two-thirds of the participants who signed up lived outside big cities, a 40% increase over last time in those from suburban, small town and rural addresses.—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
29 Mar. 2026
-
Support was markedly lower in more rural areas than in central El Cajon, whose voters overwhelmingly backed the measure.—
Jemma Stephenson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
29 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Shah, who is the RSP’s prime ministerial candidate, won the 2022 Kathmandu mayoral race.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
26 Mar. 2026
-
The government planned to set up an emergency economic task force, led by Kim, to coordinate cross-ministerial efforts, the prime minister said at a press briefing, according to Yonhap News Agency.—
Anniek Bao,
CNBC,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Including 55 serious operas, 6 cantatas, 53 comic operas, 17 operettas, 6 sing-spiele, 4 ballets, 4 vaudevilles, 2 oratorios, one each of fares, pastorales, masques, ballads and buffas.—
WILLIAM ROBIN,
New York Times,
1 Sep. 2017
Noun
-
This dynamic is taken to extreme, surreal heights in Kobo Abe’s Woman in the Dunes, about a man whose idyll is derailed entirely.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
-
By lunchtime this Italian idyll had become our entire universe.—
Erin Florio,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
In Berceuse Parish, there are so many elegies.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 Feb. 2026
-
The show, a sort of elegy for Gen X, opens with a flash-forward to July 16, 1999, the final hours of Carolyn and John.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
After all, audiences may be captivated by the psalm singing itself, but then can also find more things that capture their imagination in the observational doc.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Feb. 2026
-
Gallagher is also excited about Psalms of the People (Salim Nan Daoine), Jack Archer’s Gaelic-language documentary about Scotland’s cultural heritage of traditional Gaelic psalm singing.—
Diana Lodderhose,
Deadline,
25 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The Spiritual Sound Marc-André Hamelin, Found Objects / Sound Objects The Beths, Straight Line Was a Lie A year like no other, my 2025 in music was filled with joyous arias and madrigals of melancholy.—
Rolling Stone,
Rolling Stone,
29 Dec. 2025
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This is a lovely fundraiser to assist in the preservation of the cemetery, and the day is filled with master gardeners offering advice, madrigals singing, an archaeology talk, refreshments, kids’ activities and lots of lovely spring plants for sale.—
Janet Kusterer,
Baltimore Sun,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
The Irishman is an epic in every sense of the word, a multi-generational tale of Frank Sheeran's life as an Irish hitman for the Italian mafia.—
K. Thor Jensen,
PC Magazine,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Michael Winterbottom followed in 2023 with Shoshana (a film that premiered a full month before the horrors of October 7), and last year saw Cherien Dabis’s sprawling epic All That’s Left of You make the Oscar shortlist.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pastoral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pastoral. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
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