encyclical
/ɛnˈsɪklɪkəl/
encyclical noun: a papal letter, intended for general circulation in the Catholic Church.
Noun
encyclical (plural encyclicals)
- A papal letter, intended for general circulation in the Catholic Church.
- In his encyclical – the first major text on safeguarding humankind of his papacy – he also apologised for the Catholic church’s long delay in condemning slavery, describing it as “a wound in Christian memory”, and spoke of the “new forms of slavery” due to the digital economy.2026 May 25, Angela Giuffrida, “Pope Leo denounces ‘culture of power’ driving rise of AI”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- Synonyms:
- encyclical letter
Adjective
encyclical (not comparable)
- Intended for general circulation.
encyclical meaning in Indonesian and Vietnamese
encyclical in Indonesian
- papal letter
- ensiklik
encyclical in Vietnamese
- papal letter
- thông điệp
Synonyms of encyclical
Forms of encyclical
| plural | encyclicals |
|---|
Origin of encyclical
From Late Latin encyclicus + -al, from Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος (enkúklios, “circular, general”), from ἐν- (en-) + κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”).
Phrases with encyclical
Questions about encyclical
- What does encyclical mean?
- Encyclical means a papal letter, intended for general circulation in the Catholic Church.
- What is encyclical in Indonesian?
- Encyclical in Indonesian is ensiklik. See Encyclical meaning in Indonesian.
- What part of speech is encyclical?
- Encyclical can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce encyclical?
- Encyclical is pronounced /ɛnˈsɪklɪkəl/.
- What is the plural of encyclical?
- The plural of encyclical is encyclicals.
Words near encyclical in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: encyclical (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “encyclical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/encyclical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.