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
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
Katy Spratte Joyce, Midwest Living, 31 Mar. 2026
Women-only programs include administrative assistant, missionary wife, and general studies in the department of Bible, while the men-only alternatives are missions, youth ministry, and pastoral theology.
—Olivia Empson, Vanity Fair, 27 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
Head north to Lake Superior, book a pastoral getaway among the rolling hills of the Driftless Region, or settle in along the rocky beaches of the Door Peninsula.
—Katy Spratte Joyce, Midwest Living, 31 Mar. 2026
Women-only programs include administrative assistant, missionary wife, and general studies in the department of Bible, while the men-only alternatives are missions, youth ministry, and pastoral theology.
—Olivia Empson, Vanity Fair, 27 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
-
Many urban police departments and some rural jurisdictions have started using them – including Lafayette police in Colorado.—
Holly Yan,
CNN Money,
5 Apr. 2026
-
In the case in Alabama, a driver was trying to elude the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's highway patrol on a rural road in southeast Alabama's Pike County when the crash occurred late Friday night, agency spokeswoman Amanda Wasden said in an email Sunday.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
5 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
In each of the 11 countries, a national agency or dedicated ministerial department was set up to implement and track the project, with a coordinating entity, the Pan-African Great Green Wall Agency, based in Mauritania.—
Julie Bourdin,
NPR,
11 Apr. 2026
-
Opponents also object to the city’s review process for the project, which is ministerial, meaning the applicants do not need to seek public input and that review by city staff does not need to include public hearings.—
Regina Elling,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
10 Apr. 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
-
That this idyll is bound to expire, sooner or later, goes without saying.—
Jake Coyle,
Boston Herald,
3 Apr. 2026
-
This idyll can change within hours.—
Laura Dannen Redman,
Robb Report,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
To say an elegy by heart/to zero our dying before birth.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
1 Apr. 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
-
The epitome of that tradition is Choral Evensong, an evening service of hymns, psalms and prayers laid out by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant archbishop of the Church of England, in 1549.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
5 Apr. 2026
-
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
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
Noun
-
The filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and the novelist William Kennedy—author of Ironweed and founder of the New York State Writers Institute—worked together in the 1980s on Coppola’s film The Cotton Club, a crime epic.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Spanning the final years before the events of Martin’s novels, the production is billed as a sweeping stage epic that brings to life a legendary chapter of the history of Westeros.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pastoral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pastoral. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
