The difference between Sacred and Secular

When used as adjectives, sacred means characterized by solemn religious ceremony or religious use, especially, in a positive sense, whereas secular means not specifically religious.

Secular is also noun with the meaning: a secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules.

check bellow for the other definitions of Sacred and Secular

  1. Sacred as an adjective:

    Characterized by solemn religious ceremony or religious use, especially, in a positive sense; consecrated; made holy.

    Examples:

    "a sacred place; a sacred day; sacred service"

  2. Sacred as an adjective:

    Religious; relating to religion, or to the services of religion; not secular

  3. Sacred as an adjective:

    Spiritual; concerned with metaphysics.

  4. Sacred as an adjective:

    Designated or exalted by a divine sanction; possessing the highest title to obedience, honor, reverence, or veneration; entitled to extreme reverence; venerable.

  5. Sacred as an adjective:

    Not to be profaned or violated; inviolable.

  6. Sacred as an adjective (followed by the preposition "to"):

    Consecrated; dedicated; devoted

  7. Sacred as an adjective (archaic):

    Solemnly devoted, in a bad sense, as to evil, vengeance, curse, or the like; accursed; baleful.

  1. Sacred as a verb:

  1. Secular as an adjective:

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

  2. Secular as an adjective:

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

  3. Secular as an adjective (Christianity):

    Not bound by the vows of a monastic order.

    Examples:

    "secular clergy in Catholicism"

  4. Secular as an adjective:

    Happening once in an age or century.

    Examples:

    "The secular games of ancient Rome were held to mark the end of a saeculum and the beginning of the next."

  5. Secular as an adjective:

    Continuing over a long period of time, long-term.

    Examples:

    "The long-term growth in population and income accounts for most secular trends in economic phenomena."

    "on a secular basis"

  6. Secular as an adjective (literary):

    Centuries-old, ancient.

  7. Secular as an adjective (astrophysics, geology):

    Relating to long-term non-periodic irregularities, especially in planetary motion or magnetic field.

  8. Secular as an adjective (atomic physics):

    Unperturbed over time.

  1. Secular as a noun:

    A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules.

    Examples:

    "rfquotek Burke"

  2. Secular as a noun:

    A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir.

    Examples:

    "rfquotek Busby"

  3. Secular as a noun:

    A layman, as distinguished from a clergyman.

Compare words:

Compare with synonyms and related words: