/
ˈsɛkjʊlə/
adj.
- not religious, sacred, or spiritual.
- Christian Church not subject to or bound by religious rule. Contrasted with regular.
- Astronomy of or denoting slow changes in the motion of the sun or planets.
- Economics (of a fluctuation or trend) occurring or persisting over an indefinitely long period.
- occurring once every century or similarly long period (used especially in reference to celebratory games in ancient Rome).
n.
a secular priest.
Derivative
- secularism n.
- secularist n.
- secularity n.
- secularization
or secularisation n. - secularize
or secularise v. - secularly adv.
Etymology
ME: senses 1 and 2 from OFr. seculer, from L. saecularis, from saeculum ‘generation’, used in Christian L. to mean ‘the world’; senses 3, 4, and 5 (C19) from L. saecularis ‘relating to an age or period’.
