gospel

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒspəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑspəl/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic)

    (file)

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gos‧pel

From Middle English gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell, from Old English godspell (“gospel”), corresponding to God +‎ spell (“talk, tale, story”), literally “the message of God”, believed to be an alteration of earlier *gōdspell (literally “good news”), used to translate ecclesiastical Latin bona annūntiātiō, itself a translation of Ecclesiastical Latin ēvangelium / Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “evangel”, literally “good news”) (English evangel). Compare Old Saxon gōdspel and godspell (“gospel”), Old High German and Middle High German gotspel (“gospel”), Icelandic guðspjall (“gospel”), Malayalam സുവിശേഷം (suviśēṣaṁ).

gospel (countable and uncountable, plural gospels)

1. The first section of the Christian New Testament scripture, comprising the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, concerned with the birth, ministry, passion, and resurrection of Jesus.
2. An account of those aspects of Jesus' life, generally written during the first several centuries of the Common Era.
3. (Protestantism) The teaching of Divine grace as distinguished from the Law or Divine commandments.
4. A message expected to have positive reception or effect, one promoted as offering important (or even infallible) guiding principles.
   • 1917, Oral Hygiene, volume 7, section title:

     Spreading the gospel of dental hygiene in Vermont

5. (uncountable) That which is absolutely authoritative (definitive).

   took her words for gospel

   • 1881, George Saintsbury, Dryden:

     If any one thinks this expression hyperbolical, I shall only ask him to read Edipus, instead of taking the traditional witticisms about Lee for gospel.

6. (uncountable) Gospel music.

• evangel

• → Japanese: ゴスペル (gosuperu)

From Middle English gospellen, from Old English godspellian (“to preach the gospel, evangelise”), from the noun (see above).

gospel (third-person singular simple present gospels, present participle gospelling or (US) gospeling, simple past and past participle gospelled or (US) gospeled)

1. (transitive) To instruct in, declare, or communicate the gospel; to evangelise.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Are you so gospelled, to pray for this good man and for his issue, whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave and beggared yours forever?

   • 2014, Caesar Kalinowski, Small Is Big, Slow Is Fast:

     I stood there wondering how often they had “gospeled” each other's hearts like this.

   • 2014, Trevor Joy, Spence Shelton, The People of God: Empowering the Church to Make Disciples:

     Hopefully you will get to the point where gospeling one another becomes a natural part of your language, and you will not need a set of phrases anymore.

   • 2021, Sarosh Koshy, Beyond Missio Dei, page 339:

     But the very act of “seeing” for anyone—both those within and beyond the fold of Christian communions—is possible only as a gospel being gospeled anew in and through the most pertinent issues of their particular contexts.

• “gospel”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “gospel”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• glopes, golpes

From English gospel.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡospel/, [ˈɡo̞s̠pe̞l]
• Rhymes: -ospel
• Syllabification^(key): gos‧pel

gospel

1. (music) gospel

• “gospel”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Borrowed from English gospel.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔs.pɛl/

• Audio

  (file)

gospel m (plural gospels)

1. (music) gospel

Borrowed from English gospel.

gospel m (invariable)

1. (music) gospel

Borrowed from English gospel, from Middle English gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell, from Old English godspell.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔs.pɛl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔspɛl
• Syllabification: gos‧pel

gospel m inan (indeclinable)

1. gospel music

• gospel in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gospel in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English gospel.

• Hyphenation: gos‧pel

gospel m (uncountable)

1. (music) gospel music; gospel (a genre of African American religious music)

Borrowed from English gospel.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡospel/ [ˈɡos.pel]
• Rhymes: -ospel
• Syllabification: gos‧pel

gospel m (uncountable)

1. (music) gospel music