pastoral 1 of 2

adjective

ˈpa-st(ə-)rəl How to pronounce pastoral (audio)
Definition of pastoralnext
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

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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

pastoral

2 of 2

noun

as in pastorale

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pastoral
Adjective
Rodeos in rural Australia are more modest affairs, with distinct cultural origins rooted in pastoral stations and country towns. — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 5 July 2026 Melinda Moore, a psychology professor at Eastern Kentucky University, noted that most clergy and faith leaders receive little or no training in pastoral care for those who are suicidal or suicide-bereaved. — Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026
Noun
Who would not raise a glass to the memory of so vexed a merrymaker, under whose spell the city is transformed into an exotic pastoral? — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025 The pastoral, yet bittersweet lament has turned into something of an emotionally restorative California wildfire reflection. — Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean, 11 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for pastoral
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pastoral
  1. rural
  2. ministerial
  3. pastorale
  4. idyll
  5. elegy
  6. psalm
  7. madrigal
  8. epic
Adjective
  • Still, stories of people surprised to find their homes inundated by rising rivers illustrate the challenges of trying to bolster early warning systems in a vast, rural area known as Flash Flood Alley.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 18 July 2026
  • Classmate Nancy Ferguson was in rural France when America’s 200th rolled around.
    — Laurent Belsie, Christian Science Monitor, 18 July 2026
Definition of rural
Adjective
  • Whatever the outcome of the ministerial meeting, there is no version that will make Americans safer.
    — Jason M. Blazakis, The Conversation, 22 July 2026
  • For avid politicos, there have been so many prime ministerial resignations over the last few years that some Downing Street staff have become like fan-favorite, recurring characters in a TV show.
    — Hanna Ziady, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
Definition of ministerial
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
Definition of pastorale
Noun
  • But from here, in Jacopo’s one-hectare garden, you are tucked away in a Tuscan rural idyll.
    — Zoë Dare Hall, Forbes.com, 5 July 2026
  • This Robinson Crusoe-esque idyll delivers so much more than the standard palm tree escapism, with a 39-room wellness complex that's a match for anywhere in Europe or Asia.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 June 2026
Definition of idyll
Noun
  • Kim Kardashian shared her own elegy for MJ a few hours after her mom on Instagram.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 16 July 2026
  • The touchstones are plentiful—Harmonia’s cyclical drift, Alice Coltrane’s stargazing elegies, gamelan’s hypnotic shimmer—but the song is strange and unpredictable.
    — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 13 July 2026
Definition of elegy
Noun
  • Take The Music Lesson, a study of a young woman playing the virginal, closely watched by a gentleman, which Graham-Dixon reads as a depiction of Collegiants chastely performing and singing psalms.
    — Clare Bucknell, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 2026
  • Over the course of Gregory Orr’s long career, his poems have become increasingly incantatory, more and more like chants or psalms, repeating, reformulating, reaching for the edges of the same rich metaphors.
    — Craig Morgan Teicher, Literary Hub, 1 June 2026
Definition of psalm
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
  • 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
Definition of madrigal
Noun
  • Further, such a framing of the epic seems to echo its actual creation, in that the poem is Iron Age Greek culture’s remembrance of the Mycenae hundreds of years after a major civilizational collapse.
    — Harrison Jacobs, ARTnews.com, 22 July 2026
  • Back in January, the billionaire amplified racist backlash surrounding Christopher Nolan‘s decision to cast Lupita Nyong’o as the mythological character Helen of Troy and her twin sister Clytemnestra in the recent film adaptation of the Greek epic.
    — Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 22 July 2026
Definition of epic

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Cite this Entry

“Pastoral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pastoral. Accessed 24 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on pastoral

Nglish: Translation of pastoral for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about pastoral

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