as in temporal
not involving religion or religious matters
that's an issue for the secular authorities, not the church
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Recent Examples of secular
Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
At the same time, global polarization around topics like migration and climate change has only grown since 2013, showing the limits of his influence in secular life.
—Sophie Hills, Christian Science Monitor, 24 Apr. 2025
Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2023
These data imply to me that the secular are getting idiocratic faster than the fundamentalists.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 16 Aug. 2012
See All Example Sentences for secular
Adjective
That contrasts markedly with the ostensibly secular and pluralist vision of India espoused by the men who led the country to independence in 1947, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
—Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
At the same time, global polarization around topics like migration and climate change has only grown since 2013, showing the limits of his influence in secular life.
—Sophie Hills, Christian Science Monitor, 24 Apr. 2025
Noun
There was a change of heart among the secular nationalists during the second intifada—which started in 2000 and ended in 2005—in which seculars also joined forces.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2023
These data imply to me that the secular are getting idiocratic faster than the fundamentalists.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 16 Aug. 2012
See All Example Sentences for secular
Recent Examples of Synonyms for secular
Adjective
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Although the Inouye Solar Telescope began operating from its perch on the Hawaiian volcano Haleakala in 2022, the addition of its latest key piece of equipment provides a major boost to its spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution to the most powerful telescope of its kind in the world.—
Paul Smaglik,
Discover Magazine,
24 Apr. 2025
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All the while, amid this cultural and temporal span, Moss has been stepping out in looks that speak to her expansive and most dominant role—as a style icon across multiple eras.—
Anna Cafolla,
Vogue,
7 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Ludacris praises Miller for his affable personality and his ability to explain things in layman’s terms.—
Todd Longwell,
Variety,
9 Apr. 2025
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In layman’s terms, this means that DEB uses plant sugars and natural enzymes to create biobased materials (such as biopolymers) in eco-friendly conditions.—
Alexandra Harrell,
Sourcing Journal,
3 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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By contrast, most nonreligious people accept the possibility of spontaneous remissions, inexplicable recoveries, and the rest of the medical mysteries that the Church calls healing miracles.—
Emily Harnett,
Harpers Magazine,
28 Mar. 2025
-
Like the nonreligious resolutions, these tended to be all about me, my worshiping and my praying.—
Judy Knotts,
Austin American-Statesman,
9 Apr. 2024
Noun
-
And again, there were a lot of medical professionals, or at least those who were trained to be there at the marathon, and laypersons, too, who just knew what to do, who placed tourniquets on immediately.—
Maria Fontoura,
Rolling Stone,
5 Apr. 2025
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The layperson tends to assume that a precise and fully calculable means exists to produce a mental health diagnosis to an ironclad nth degree.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
17 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Secular.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/secular. Accessed 11 May. 2025.
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