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Catholic vs Church - What's the difference?

catholic | church |

As an adjective catholic

is of the western christian church, as differentiated from eg the orthodox church.

As a noun catholic

is a member of a catholic church.

As a proper noun church is

.

catholic

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Universal; all-encompassing.
  • * 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.29:
    • Essentially, and in idea, the empire, in the minds of the Romans, was world-wide. This conception descended to the Church, which was ‘Catholic ’ in spite of Buddhists, Confucians, and (later) Muhammadans.
  • Pertaining to all kinds of people and their range of tastes, proclivities etc.; liberal.
    • He has catholic tastes.

    • Synonyms

    * universal

    church

    English

    Alternative forms

    * churche (obsolete)

    Noun

  • (countable) A Christian house of worship; a building where religious services take place.
    • There is a lovely little church in the valley.
    This building used to be a church before being converted into a library.
  • *
  • Christians collectively seen as a single spiritual community; Christianity.
    • These worshippers make up the Church of Christ.
  • * Acts 20:28, New International Version:
    • Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
  • (countable) A local group of people who follow the same Christian religious beliefs, local or general.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • (countable) A particular denomination of Christianity.
    • The Church''' of England separated from the Roman Catholic '''Church in 1534.
  • (uncountable, countable, as bare noun) Christian worship held at a church; service.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • A (non-Christian) religion; a religious group.
  • * 2007 , Scott A. Merriman, Religion and the Law in America , page 313
    • Among these, the church must investigate fundemental questions,
    She goes to a Wiccan church down the road.

    Usage notes

    * Several senses of church are routinely used in prepositional phrases as a bare noun, without a determiner or article. This is like (home) and unlike (house).

    Synonyms

    * (building) chapel (small church), kirk (Scotland) * (group of worshipers) congregation

    Hypernyms

    * (religious group) religion

    Coordinate terms

    * mosque, synagogue, temple, gurdwara, hof, fire temple, circle, mandir, jinja, House of Worship, monastery

    Derived terms

    (church) * Anglican Church * Byzantine Church * broad church * Catholic Church * church affiliation * church bell * church crawler * Church Latin * churchgoer * church-going * church hat * church hop * Churchianity * church key * churchless * churchlike * churchly * churchman * church mode * churchmouse * church music * Church of England * Church of Rome * Church of Scotland * churchperson * church planter/churchplanter * church roll * church school * church service * Church Slavonic * church state * church triumphant * churchward * churchwoman * churchy * churchyard * church year * collegiate church * Congregational church * established church * Eastern Church * Eastern Orthodox Church * free church * Greek Church * Greek Catholic Church * Greek Orthodox Church * High Church * Latin Church * LDS church * Low Church * Lutheran Church * Maronite Church * mega-church/megachurch * New Church * Orthodox Church * Orthodox Catholic Church * Oriental Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * parish church * particular Church * Roman Catholic Church * union church * Western Church

    Verb

    (es)
  • *:
  • *:Thenne after this lady was delyuerd and chirched / there came a knyghte vnto her / his name was sire Bromel la pleche / the whiche was a grete lord and he hadde loued that lady longe / and he euermore desyred her to wedde her / and soo by no meane she coude putte hym of
  • *1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society 2012, page 36:
  • *:Nor did it [the Church] accept that the woman should stay indoors until she had been churched .
  • (label) To educate someone religiously, as in in a church.

    • Derived terms

    * churching of women

    See also

    * (selected ecclesiastical terms) * abbe * abbey * basilica * cathedral * ecclesiastical * Eucharist * house of worship * Kingdom Hall (qualifier, Jehovah's Witness) * liturgy * mass * mission * mosque (Muslim) * pastor * priory * rector * religious * religion * sermon * synagogue (Jewish) * temple (non-Christian) * vicar * worship service

    Statistics

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