spiritual definition

English spiritual definition

Alternative forms

• (all obsolete) spirituall, spirytual, spirytuall, spyritual, spyrituall, spyrytual, spyrytuall

Etymology

From Middle English spiritual, spirituel, from Old French spirituel, from Late Latin spiritualis, from Latin spiritus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪɹɪtʃʊəl/, /ˈspɪɹɪtjʊəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/, /ˈspɪɹɪ̈t͡ʃul̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

spiritual (comparative more spiritual, superlative most spiritual)

1. Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul.

   Respect towards ancestors is an essential part of Thai spiritual practice.

2. Of or pertaining to God or a place of worship; sacred, pure; (Christianity, specifically) inspired by the Holy Spirit.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Galatians 6:1:

     Brethren, if a man bee ouertaken in a fault: yee which are spirituall, restore such a one in the spirit of meeknesse, considering thy selfe least thou also be tempted.

3. Of or pertaining to spirits; supernatural.
   • 2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions‎^[1], volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, pages 219–257:

     Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film.

4. Consisting of spirit; not material; incorporeal.

   a spiritual substance or being

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 15:44:

     It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

5. Of or relating to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind; mental; intellectual.
6. Not lay or temporal; relating to sacred things; ecclesiastical.

   the spiritual functions of the clergy; lords spiritual and temporal; a spiritual corporation

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

spiritual (plural spirituals)

1. A Christian religious song, especially one in an African-American style, or a similar non-religious song.
2. Any spiritual function, office, or affair.
   • a. 1880, James Russell Lowell, "Dante"

     He assigns supremacy to the pope in spirituals, and to the emperor in temporals.

Synonyms

• folk song

Derived terms

Translations

References

• “spiritual”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• spiritual in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “spiritual”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Romanian spiritual definition

Etymology

Borrowed from French spirituel, Late Latin spīrituālis, from Latin spiritus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spirituˈal/

Adjective

spiritual m or n (feminine singular spirituală, masculine plural spirituali, feminine and neuter plural spirituale)

1. spiritual

   Synonym: sufletesc

Declension

Related terms

• spiritualism
• spiritualitate