religious

From Middle English religiouse, religious, religius, religeous, from Anglo-Norman religieus, religius, from Old French religious, religieux, and their source, Latin religiōsus (“religious, superstitious, conscientious”), from religiō. Doublet of religieux.

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɪ.ˈlɪd͡ʒ.əs/

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• Rhymes: -ɪdʒəs

religious (comparative more religious, superlative most religious)

1. Concerning religion.

   It is the job of this court to rule on legal matters. We do not consider religious issues.

   • 1787 September 17, Constitutional Convention, Constitution of the United States‎, Philadelphia, page 4:

     The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

   • 2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions‎, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, archived from the original on 20 December 2014, pages 219–257:

     Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film.

2. Committed to the practice or adherence of religion.

   I was much more religious as a teenager than I am now.

3. Highly dedicated, as one would be to a religion.

   I'm a religious fan of college basketball.

4. Belonging or pertaining to a religious order or religious congregation.

   religious priest, religious sister, religious brother

   • 1878, James Andrew Corcoran, Patrick John Ryan, Edmond Francis Prendergast, The American Catholic Quarterly Review, page 236:

     The religious vows are either simple or solemn. Vows are solemn according to the more common opinion, not, for instance, because of any solemnity attending the making of them, but because of the will of the Church.

   • 2001, John P. Mack, Priests: An Inside Look, Saint Mary's Press, →ISBN, page 28:

     The religious priest lives his priesthood vocation within the religious congregation to which he belongs. He may serve within a parish or another institution, such as a school or a hospital. Unlike the diocesan priest, the religious priest develops his identity from the charism of the religious order and finds his community with the members of that order.

   • 2002 May 16, F. Donald Logan, Runaway Religious in Medieval England, C.1240-1540, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 61:

     From the 1450s onward it was possible for a religious to have included in his dispensation a clause that allowed him, once beneficed, to wear the garb of a secular priest provided he wore his religious habit underneath.

   • 2022 October 18, Bronagh Ann McShane, Irish Women in Religious Orders, 1530-1700: Suppression, Migration and Reintegration, Boydell & Brewer, →ISBN, page 208:

     Divergence in religious rule and observance for women within the Franciscan order undoubtedly complicated the assimilation of the Irish Poor Clare sisters within Spanish convents.

• (antonym(s) of “concerning religion”): irreligious, profane, secular, atheistic
• (antonym(s) of “committed to religion”): areligious, irreligious
• (antonym(s) of “highly dedicated”): casual
• (antonym(s) of “pertaining to a religious order”): secular, diocesan (of priests)

religious (plural religious or religiouses)

1. A member of a religious order or congregation, i.e. a monk, nun, sister, brother, friar, or religious priest.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 354:

     Towards the end of the seventh century the monks of Fleury [...] clandestinely excavated the body of Benedict himself, plus the corpse of his even more shadowy sister and fellow religious, Scholastica.

• “religious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “religious”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.