Pastoral Meaning
/ˈpɑːstə.ɹəl/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjOf or pertaining to shepherds or herders of other livestock.
adjRelating to rural life and scenes, in particular of poetry.
Sentence Examples
No trace of Napoleon's waltz across Europe appears in the pastoral novels of Jane Austen.
'Some schools are better at providing pastoral support to children', he said.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The poet wrote about the peaceful ____ landscape of rolling hills and sheep.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The painting depicted a peaceful ____ scene with rolling hills, grazing sheep, and a clear blue sky.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French, Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”), + adjective suffix -ālis.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism."
— 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160:
"[…] these pastoral farms, / Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke / Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!"
— 1798, Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Lines Above Tintern Abbey, lines 16–18:
"There was a tone, too, of pastoral poetry shed over the new scenes to which they were just introduced, that had a greater effect from the contrast to those, artificial and crowded, which they had just left."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 219–220:
"He wanders west as far as Memphis, a solitary migrant upon that flat and pastoral landscape."
— 1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:
"“In terms of pastoral consequences,” Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who leads the Vatican’s office on doctrine, said in a news conference Monday, “the principle of welcoming all is clear in the words of Pope Francis.”"
— 2024 April 8, Jason Horowitz, Elisabetta Povoledo, quoting Víctor Manuel Fernández, “Vatican Document Casts Gender Change and Fluidity as Threat to Human Dignity”, in The New York Times:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The poet wrote about the peaceful ____ landscape of rolling hills and sheep.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The painting depicted a peaceful ____ scene with rolling hills, grazing sheep, and a clear blue sky.