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RELIGIOUS
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A member of a religious order who is bound by vows of poverty and chastity and obedience
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("religious" is a kind of...):
religious person (a person who manifests devotion to a deity)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "religious"):
friar; mendicant (a male member of a religious order that originally relied solely on alms)
monastic; monk (a male religious living in a cloister and devoting himself to contemplation and prayer and work)
Benedictine (a monk or nun belonging to the order founded by Saint Benedict)
Jesuit (a member of the Jesuit order)
nun (a woman religious)
eremite (a Christian recluse)
cenobite; coenobite (a member of a religious order living in common)
superior (the head of a religious community)
votary (one bound by vows to a religion or life of worship or service)
Instance hyponyms:
Merton; Thomas Merton (United States religious and writer (1915-1968))
Derivation:
religious (of or relating to clergy bound by monastic vows)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Of or relating to clergy bound by monastic vows
Example:
the religious or regular clergy conducts the service
Classified under:
Antonym:
secular (of or relating to clergy not bound by monastic vows)
Derivation:
religious (a member of a religious order who is bound by vows of poverty and chastity and obedience)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Having or showing belief in and reverence for a deity
Example:
religious attitude
Classified under:
Similar:
churchgoing (actively practicing a religion)
churchly (resembling or suggesting or appropriate to a church)
devout; god-fearing (deeply religious)
interfaith (involving persons of different religious faiths)
Also:
pious (having or showing or expressing reverence for a deity)
Antonym:
irreligious (hostile or indifferent to religion)
Derivation:
religion (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny)
religiousness (piety by virtue of being devout)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church
Example:
spiritual songs
Synonyms:
religious; spiritual
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
sacred (concerned with religion or religious purposes)
Derivation:
religion (an institution to express belief in a divine power)
religiosity (exaggerated or affected piety and religious zeal)
religiousness (piety by virtue of being devout)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Extremely scrupulous and conscientious
Example:
religious in observing the rules of health
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
scrupulous (having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong; principled)
Derivation:
religiousness (the quality of being extremely conscientious)
Context examples:
Parents need to decide what is best for their sons, based on their religious, cultural and personal preferences.
(Circumcision, NIH)
Liberian officials say most of the 31 patients infected attended the April 22 funeral of a religious leader in Sinoe County.
(Experts Link Fatal Mystery Illness in Liberia to Meningitis Bacteria, VOA)
A courtesy title for a member of a religious order, fraternity, movement, or other group.
(Brother, NCI Thesaurus)
Specific grounds for annullment vary within the presiding jurisdiction, whether geographic or religious.
(Annulled, NCI Thesaurus)
Ordained individuals who perform spiritual and/or religious functions.
(Clergy, NCI Dictionary)
A set of ideas, as of philosophical or religious doctrine, in terms of which other ideas are interpreted or assigned meaning; a system that uses coordinates to establish position.
(Frame of Reference, NCI Thesaurus)
A religious group that follows the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who taught that the end of suffering can be achieved by eliminating the desire for material comforts.
(Buddhist, NCI Thesaurus)
I computed the number of our people, by reckoning how many millions there might be of each religious sect, or political party among us.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
I shall take up my abode in a religious house near Lisle—a nunnery you would call it; there I shall be quiet and unmolested.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
A religious group that follows the words and belief system founded by the prophet Muhammad and are written in the Koran.
(Muslim, NCI Thesaurus)
