crusades

Noun

crusade (plural crusades)

1. (historical) Any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along the Baltic Sea and against the Cathars.
   • During the crusades, many Muslims and Christians and Jews were slaughtered.
2. Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious ends, (especially) papal-sanctioned military campaigns against infidels or heretics.
3. (figuratively, sometimes ironically) A grand, concerted effort towards some purportedly worthy cause.
   • a crusade against drug abuse
4. (dated) A mass gathering in a political campaign or during a religious revival effort.
   • The same period that has seen social and political crusades increasingly replace religious messages in the pulpits has seen a sharp 35 percent decline in membership of the mainline Protestant denominations associated with the National Council of Churches.1994, Richard Nixon, “America Beyond Peace”, in Beyond Peace, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 239
5. (archaic) A Portuguese coin; a crusado.

See all 8 meanings of crusade