Meaning & use
secular
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Not connected with religion or religious authority, especially in public institutions and affairs.
Grammar: Usually not compared; in careful comparisons people say more secular, but it has no -er form.
Patterns
- a secular state
- secular education
- secular law
- secular society
The constitution protects both religious and secular schools.
A secular court does not base decisions on scripture.
Many families want secular holidays without worship services.
adjectivenot comparabletechnical
Relating to a long-term trend or process rather than short-term change.
Grammar: Used before a noun in technical writing: secular trend, not a trend is secular.
Patterns
- secular trend
- secular change
- secular decline
Economists track a secular decline in manufacturing jobs.
The study separated seasonal noise from the secular trend.
A secular rise in temperatures concerns coastal planners.
Common combinations
- secular state
- The secular state guarantees freedom of worship for every citizen.
- secular education
- The charter school offers secular education with no religious instruction.
- secular music
- The choir performs both sacred and secular music.
- secular trend
- Automation is part of a secular trend in warehouse work.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nonreligious
- Nonreligious simply lacks religion; secular often means deliberately separate from religion in public life.
- civic
- Civic concerns citizens and public duties, while secular stresses no religious authority.
- temporal
- Temporal means worldly rather than spiritual, but it is more formal and less common in everyday school contexts.
Opposites
Word family
- secularism noun
- The principle that public institutions should not favor religion.
- secularist noun
- A supporter of secular government or education.
- secularize verb
- To remove religious control or influence from an institution.
- secularization noun
- The process of becoming less religious in public authority.
Commonly confused: secular or sectarian?
secular vs sectarian
Sectarian means connected to a religious sect or hostile between groups; secular means not governed by religion.
Practice
Which sentence uses secular correctly?
Choose one answer.
Secular fits a public institution kept separate from religious authority. Options 1 and 4 contradict that separation, and option 3 confuses personal superstition with the institutional meaning of secular.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “secular”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.