sæcular

Adjective

secular (comparative more secular, superlative most secular)

1. Not specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical.

   Synonyms:

   areligious, temporal, worldly

   Antonyms:

   nonsecular, religious, sacred

2. Temporal; worldly, or otherwise not based on something timeless.

   Synonyms:

   chronological

   Antonyms:

   nonsecular

3. Not bound by the vows of a religious order.
   • Near-synonym: nonmonastic

   Synonyms:

   nonmonastic

   Antonyms:

   monastic, nonsecular, regular

4. Happening once in an age or century.
   • Near-synonyms: centurial, centennial

   Synonyms:

   centurial, centennial

   Antonyms:

   nonsecular

5. Continuing over a long period of time.
   • The long-term growth in population and income accounts for most secular trends in economic phenomena.

   Synonyms:

   long-term, nonsecular

   Antonyms:

   short-term, cyclical

6. (literary) Centuries-old, ancient.
   • The long reaches that were like one and the same reach, monotonous bends that were exactly alike, slipped past the steamer with their multitude of secular trees looking patiently after this grimy fragment of another world, the forerunner of change, of conquest, of trade, of massacres, of blessings.1899 April, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MII, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part III (Conclusion)

   Synonyms:

   plurisecular, multisecular, nonsecular

See all 12 meanings of secular