Biblical Meaning
/ˈbɪblɪkəl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjOf or relating to the Bible.
adjIn accordance with the teachings of the Bible (according to some interpretation of it).
Sentence Examples
The biblical Tower of Babel is what architects call a ziggurat.
This is a biblical text.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The preacher's sermon was filled with ____ references to ancient prophets.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The story has many ____ references that are very easy to see today.
Word Origin & History
From Medieval Latin biblicus + -al, equivalent to bible + -ical.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"She claws it away with her fingers. Falls heavily on her shoulders. Accepts the congratulations of her teammates, who look like they have just seen a biblical miracle."
— 2025 July 19, Jonathan Liew, “Ann-Katrin Berger follows up biblical miracle with penalty heroics for Germany”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
"Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it."
— 2023 February 16, Chris McGreal, quoting Mike Pompeo, “Pompeo says Israel has biblical claim to Palestine and is ‘not an occupying nation’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
"To have striven so hard, to have molded a public personality out of so amorphous an identity, to have sustained that superhuman effort only to end with every weakness disclosed and every error compounding the downfall—that was a fate of biblical proportions."
— 1982, Henry Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, →ISBN:
"Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?
Dr. Raymond Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff."
— 1984, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The preacher's sermon was filled with ____ references to ancient prophets.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The story has many ____ references that are very easy to see today.