congregation
pronunciation
How to pronounce congregation in British English:
UK [ˌkɒŋgrɪˈgeɪʃn]
How to pronounce congregation in American English:
US [ˌkɑŋgrɪˈgeɪʃn]
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- Noun:
- a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church
- an assemblage of people or animals or things collected together
- the act of congregating
Word Origin
- congregation
- congregation: [14] Etymologically, a church’s congregation is comparable to a pastor’s flock. The word comes from Latin congregātiō, a noun derivative of congregāre ‘flock together’. This was a compound verb formed from the collective prefix com- and grex ‘flock, herd’ (source of English egregious and gregarious). Congregation was thus originally simply a ‘meeting, assembly’; its religious connotations arose from its frequent use in the 1611 translation of the Bible to render ‘solemn public assembly’. The verb congregate was independently borrowed in the 15th century.=> aggregate, egregious, gregarious, segregate
- congregation (n.)
- mid-14c., "a gathering, assembly," from Old French congregacion (12c., Modern French congrégation), from Latin congregationem (nominative congregatio), noun of action from congregare (see congregate). Used by Tyndale to translate Greek ekklesia in New Testament and by some Old Testament translators in place of synagoge. (Vulgate uses a variety of words in these cases, including congregatio but also ecclesia, vulgus, synagoga, populus.) Protestant reformers in 16c. used it in place of church; hence the word's main modern sense of "local society of believers" (1520s).
Antonym
Example
- 1. It was a heart-wrenching tragedy for this very young church and its congregation .
- 2. When robert got up to preach , the congregation had been there a good while .
- 3. This group is already a congregation of a russian church during a ritual ice-cold water bathing .
- 4. They found that the number of close friends people had in their congregation explained the entire relationship .
- 5. Tell the congregation of a church or mosque that existence is too vulgar an attribute to fasten onto their god , and they will brand you an atheist .