“churches” is a form of
church
UK /t͡ʃɜːt͡ʃ/ · US /t͡ʃɝt͡ʃ/ noun, verb, interjection, proper noun
Forms churches churching churched churche chirche chu'ch chuuch chuhch
- noun (countable, Christianity) A Christian house of worship; a building where Christian religious services take place. “There is a lovely little church in the valley.”
- noun Christians collectively seen as a single spiritual community; Christianity; Christendom. “These worshippers make up the Church of Christ.”
- noun (countable) A local group of people who follow the same Christian religious beliefs, local or general.
- noun (countable) A particular denomination of Christianity. “The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534.”
- noun (uncountable, countable, as bare noun) Christian worship held at a church; service.
- noun (uncountable) Organized religion in general or a specific religion considered as a political institution. “Many constitutions enshrine the separation of church and state.”
- noun (informal) Any religious group or place of worship; a temple. “She goes to a Wiccan church down the road.”
- noun (obsolete) Assembly.
- verb (transitive, Christianity, now historical) To conduct a religious service for (a woman after childbirth, or a newly married couple).
- verb (transitive) To educate someone religiously, as in a church.
- interjection (slang) Used to express strong agreement. “– These burritos are the best! – Church!”
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun (used with "the") A specific church (Christian religious denomination), such as the Church of England or the Catholic Church.
- proper noun (used with "the") Christianity conceptualized as a single church, irrespective of its various denominations; Christendom. “the Son in Heaven and the Church on Earth”
- proper noun A village in Hyndburn borough, near Accrington, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD7429).
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Allamakee County, Iowa, United States.
Synonyms
chapel kirk autem congregation preach Church Village Churchtown Christian church church building church service
Etymology
From Middle English chirche, from Old English ċiriċe (“church”), from Proto-West Germanic *kirikā, an early borrowing of Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón), neuter form of κυριακός (kuriakós, “belonging to the lord”), from κύριος (kúrios, “ruler, lord”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell, spread out, be strong, prevail”). Doublet of kirk.
For vowel evolution, see bury. Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakón) was used of houses of Christian worship since circa 300 CE, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía, “congregation”) or βασιλική (basilikḗ, “royal thing”). An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, possibly via the Goths; it was probably used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period. Cognate with Scots kirk (“church”), West Frisian tsjerke (“church”), Saterland Frisian Säärke (“church”), Dutch kerk (“church”), German Kirche (“church”), Danish kirke (“church”), Swedish kyrka (“church”), Norwegian Bokmål kirke, Norwegian Nynorsk kyrkje (“church”), and Faroese and Icelandic kirkja (“church”). Also picked up by Slavic, via Old High German chirihha (compare Old Church Slavonic црькꙑ (crĭky), Bulgarian църква (cărkva), Russian це́рковь (cérkovʹ)). Romance and Celtic languages use descendants of Latin ecclēsia.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A building set apart for Christian worship.
- noun A Jewish or heathen temple. [Obs.] Acts xix. 37.
- verb To bless according to a prescribed form, or to unite with in publicly returning thanks in church, as after deliverance from the dangers of childbirth; as, the churching of women.
Etymology [OE. chirche, chireche, cherche, Scot. kirk, from AS. circe, cyrice; akin to D. kerk, Icel. kirkja, Sw. kyrka, Dan. kirke, G. kirche, OHG. chirihha; all fr. Gr. ç\'d4ra hero, Zend. çura strong, OIr. caur, cur, hero. Cf. Kirk.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “church”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details