Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of worldwide scope or applicability; universal.
- adj. Of or relating to the worldwide Christian church.
- adj. Concerned with establishing or promoting unity among churches or religions.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- General; universal; specifically, belonging to the entire Christian church.
Wiktionary
- adj. General, universal, worldwide.
- adj. Pertaining to the Christian Church in a worldwide sense or of the desire to unite the denominations of the Christian Church. Among many fundamental and evangelical Christians the word has a pejorative connotation because of desires to maintain a separate and "pure" literal interpretation of the Bible.
- adj. Interreligious or interdenominational.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. concerned with promoting unity among churches or religions
- adj. of worldwide scope or applicability
Etymologies
- From Late Latin oecūmenicus, from Greek oikoumenikos, from (hē) oikoumenē (gē), (the) inhabited (world), feminine present passive participle of oikein, to inhabit, from oikos, house; see weik-1 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“It is not my use of the term ecumenical - I already admitted that I only used that term out of pure orneryness.”
sbcIMPACT life :: theology :: church :: ministry :: missions :: worship
“I think most people expect that Mr. Obama will be viewed in ecumenical circles as the most genuine, faithful candidate in the race.”
“A number of the principles have roots in ecumenical agreements that date back more than 50 years, noted Dr. Kinnamon, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister and professor at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Mo.”
Ecumenical "Christian Principles in an Election Year" Offer Criteria for Judging Candidates
“For a whole generation he has also been a leading figure in ecumenical work.”
“Pointing to the image of Christ crucified with his arms stretched out, he called the ecumenical body to take on that same "inclusive" image, embracing everybody and sharing God's gifts with all.”
“For decades, the two churches have held theological discussions on trying to reunite, part of the Vatican's broader, long-term ecumenical effort to unify all Christians who have separated from Rome over the centuries.”
“For decades, the two churches have held theological discussions on trying to reunite, part of the Vatican's broader, long-term ecumenical effort to unify all Christians.”
“I’ve been involved in ecumenical activities (different Christian sects working together, promoting Christianity as a whole rather than promoting the United Free Church as being better than the Reformed Free Church …) and interfaith activities (Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Moslems, Jews and Sikhs all discussing the commonalities of faith as well as the difference) … It hasn’t hurt my faith at all.”
Think Progress » War on Christmas Fraud Exposed: The Silent Night “Rewrite” That Wasn’t
“A sense of shared generic or “Judeo-Christian,” a term invented in this period values began to emerge, and in institutional terms the ecumenical movement gathered steam.”
“Even so-called ecumenical gatherings between modernist birds of a feather end up drowning in a sea of meaningless words.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ecumenical’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1073 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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New to Me
anodyne, salient, ecumenical, salubrious, invective, incendiary, colophon, stola, druthers, syllogism
seanahan From David Eddings, referring to a character named Silk,
"Silk's depredations were broadly ecumenical". Jan 23, 2008
jennarenn cute :) Jan 22, 2008
asativum This word always reminds me of an old joke:
A Catholic priest and a Protestant minister were in a heated theological argument. After a lull, one (take your pick) said, "Well, we must remember that we worship the same God."
"Yes," said the other. "You in your way, I in His." Jan 22, 2008
yarb "That would be an ecumenical matter!" - Father Jack. Jan 21, 2008
misterpolly A Good Thing when you can get other religions to admit that they've got it wrong and yours has got it right. Jan 21, 2008