Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of broad or liberal scope; comprehensive.
  • adjective Including or concerning all humankind; universal.
  • adjective Of or involving the Roman Catholic Church.
  • adjective Of or relating to the universal Christian church.
  • adjective Of or relating to the ancient undivided Christian church.
  • adjective Of or relating to those churches that have claimed to be representatives of the ancient undivided church.
  • noun A member of a Catholic church, especially a Roman Catholic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Universal; all-encompassing.
  • adjective Pertaining to all kinds of people and their range of tastes, proclivities etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English catholik, universally accepted, from Old French catholique, from Latin catholicus, universal, from Greek katholikos, from katholou, in general : kat-, kata-, down, along, according to; see cata– + holou (from neuter genitive of holos, whole; see sol- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin catholicus, from Ancient Greek καθολικός (katholikos), from κατά (kata, "according to") + ὅλος (holos, "whole")

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Examples

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  • what in the name of god.

    June 19, 2012