Secular Meaning
/ˈsɛkjʊlə/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNot specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical.
adjTemporal; worldly, or otherwise not based on something timeless.
Sentence Examples
What is the opinion of a cultured, secular and sincere man?
I believe that education should be secular, not rooted in religion.
CEFR Practice Quiz
In many modern countries, the government is ____ and separate from any church.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The school was a ____ institution that welcomed students of all faiths and none.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English seculer, from Old French seculer, from Latin saeculāris (“of the age”), from saeculum.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"In this event, the s#92;phi(k) curve in Fig. 15.5 will be subject to a secular upward shift, resulting in successively higher intersections with the #92;lambdak ray and also in larger values of #92;bark."
— 2005, Alpha Chiang, Kevin Wainwright, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill International, page 501:
"The skewed distribution of productivity gains is thus less a new phenomenon than a secular trend."
— 2006, “Economics focus: Dividing the pie”, in The Economist:
"The long reaches that were like one and the same reach, monotonous bends that were exactly alike, slipped past the steamer with their multitude of secular trees looking patiently after this grimy fragment of another world, the forerunner of change, of conquest, of trade, of massacres, of blessings."
— 1899 April, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MII, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part III (Conclusion):
"Laplace (1749–1827) "saved the world" by using probability theory to estimate the parameters accurately enough to show that the drift of Jupiter was not secular after all; the observations at hand had covered only a fraction of a cycle of an oscillation with a period of about 880 years."
— 2003, E. T. Jaynes, Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, Cambridge University Press, pages 234–235:
"On further examination, I found the clergy, in general, persons of moderate minds and decorous manners : I include the seculars, and the regulars of both sexes"
— 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
In many modern countries, the government is ____ and separate from any church.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The school was a ____ institution that welcomed students of all faiths and none.