Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material. See Synonyms at immaterial.
- adj. Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul.
- adj. Of, from, or relating to God; deific.
- adj. Of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred.
- adj. Relating to or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.
- n. A religious folk song of African-American origin.
- n. A work composed in imitation of such a song.
- n. Religious, spiritual, or ecclesiastical matters. Often used in the plural.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of, pertaining to, or being spirit in the sense of something between soul and body, or of a disembodied soul or a supernatural immaterial being.
- Pertaining to the soul, or to the higher endowments of the mind, especially when considered as a divine influence.
- Pertaining to the soul or its affections as influenced by the Divine Spirit; proceeding from or controlled and inspired by the Holy Spirit; pure; holy; sacred; divine.
- Relating to sacred things; not lay or temporal; pertaining or belonging to the church; ecclesiastical.
- The spiritual nature: opposed to physical man.
- Synonyms Spirited, etc. (see spirituous), immaterial.
- n. A spiritual thing.
- n. A spiritual person. One who is of a spiritual nature or character.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul
- adj. Of or pertaining to God or a place of worship; sacred
- adj. Of or pertaining to spirits; supernatural
- n. A Christian religious song, especially one in an African-American style, or a similar non-religious song.
- n. Any spiritual function, office, or affair.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Consisting of spirit; not material; incorporeal.
- adj. Of or pertaining to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind; mental; intellectual.
- adj. Of or pertaining to the moral feelings or states of the soul, as distinguished from the external actions; reaching and affecting the spirits.
- adj. Of or pertaining to the soul or its affections as influenced by the Spirit; controlled and inspired by the divine Spirit; proceeding from the Holy Spirit; pure; holy; divine; heavenly-minded; -- opposed to
carnal . - adj. Not lay or temporal; relating to sacred things; ecclesiastical.
- n. A spiritual function, office, or affair. See spirituality, 2.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church
- adj. concerned with or affecting the spirit or soul
- adj. resembling or characteristic of a phantom
- n. a kind of religious song originated by Blacks in the southern United States
- adj. lacking material body or form or substance
Etymologies
- This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French spirituel, from Latin spīrituālis, of breathing, spiritual, from spīritus, breath; see spirit. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But, given that it does not seem to be true that terrible terminal illnesses more commonly fall upon those in bad spiritual health than upon those of good character, let alone that they fall only upon the former, this ˜spiritual chemotherapy™ view seems quite hopeless.”
“Of such Peter says: “ye also, as lively stones, are built up _a spiritual house_, a holy priesthood, to offer up _spiritual sacrifices_ acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.””
“_spiritual_ idea, we have the surest proof of a spiritual object; nor is this the less certain, though we perceive not the assimilant.”
“When people hear the term "spiritual sex," a whole gamut of inaccurate notions and associations may leap to mind.”
“When, over the years, I've causally discussed "religion" with devoutly religious people, they've seemed to seamlessly accept my use of the word "spiritual" -- though, whether they've instantly replaced their own terms when I say "spirit" they think "Jesus" I don't know for sure.”
The Huffington Post: Loren-Paul Caplin: Religious vs. Spiritual: Semantics Or Neurotics?
“For if any aspect of contemporary physics deserves the term spiritual, it is our understanding of the nature of particles and waves of light.”
“There is no other reality -- higher or lower -- and the word spiritual is nothing but a crude con.”
The Huffington Post: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Atheist Chaplains and the Church of Evolution
“I still cringed when I heard the word God, and the word spiritual evoked a vision of piety and austerity that did not match—this would be an understatement—my vast collection of nubby sweaters and honey-colored boots.”
“You know, I'm at that age now, I'm 59, and after I had this turnaround in my life, I prefer the term spiritual awakening to religious conversion.”
“The second component of the term spiritual friend, mitra in Sanskrit, is the common word for friend.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘spiritual’.
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PHIL - vocabulary of thinking
philosophy, Socratic, dialogue, philosopher, Athenian, philosophical, politic, Greek, method, death, ancient, believe and 243 more...
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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 11184 more...
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Words Associated With Jesus
Words that indentify Jesus and His Salvation to those who seek Him.
hope, grace, love, faith, salvation, truth, eternity, heaven, god, holy spirit, bible, scripture and 191 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
( open list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/macabrephantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 311 more...
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The Medley of Me
A jumble of words, sometimes contradictory, that add up to me. I'll probably be adding to this list for some time, because I'm a very complex individual. ;P
male, long-haired, big-eyed, writer, artist, guitarist, songsmith, talespinner, pilot, wannabe barnstormer, gypsy, cuddlesome and 209 more...
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Pretty Words
Words that sound pretty.
ethereal, ephemeral, iridescent, shimmer, wisp, whisper, charisma, crescent, azure, mystery, fantasy, miracle and 142 more...
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Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Beautiful Music
a cappella, accelerando, accompagnato, adagio, ad libitum, agitato, aleatory, alla breve, allegro, allemande, alto, andante and 548 more...
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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lux
All things light-filled and radiant.
scintillate, radiate, elucidate, emanate, illuminate, sparkling, sparkle, glitter, glittering, glisten, shine, brighten and 97 more...
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EROTICA
thrust, cock, sweat, erotic, porn, penetrate, lust, force, rape, hard, cum, climax and 73 more...
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kinds of kind
kind finds
mankind, enkindle, kindles, kinda, four of a kind, wunderkind, payment in kind, in-kind, kind, kindred, take kindly to, kinder and 53 more...
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Weekly Words (Oct 5, 2008)
I am using Mechanical Turk to collect “words of the week†from 100 different people.
nauseous, bildungsroman, stabby, bored, faith, crisis, positive, hectic, friendly, dogs, easy, awesome and 75 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for spiritual.
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