secular

Meaning

Adj

1. Not specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical.
2. Temporal; worldly, or otherwise not based on something timeless.
3. Not bound by the vows of a monastic order.
4. Happening once in an age or century.
5. Continuing over a long period of time, long-term.
6. Centuries-old, ancient.
7. Relating to long-term non-periodic irregularities, especially in planetary motion or magnetic field.
8. Unperturbed over time.

Noun

1. A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules.
2. A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir.
3. A layman, as distinguished from a clergyman.

Synonyms

worldly

temporal

lay

mundane

profane

laic

earthly

layman

layperson

irreligious

nonreligious

civil

age-old

secularized

sublunar

sublunary

terrestrial

unconsecrated

unreligious

vulgar

wordly

century-old

worldy

laicistic

laicist

ancient

carnal

century

common

cosmic

epochal

lifelong

material

open

ordinary

popular

secularistic

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsɛkjʊlə/

Etymology

From Middle English seculer, from Old French seculer, from Latin saeculāris (“of the age”), from saeculum.