secular en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈsɛkjʊlə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈsɛkjələɹ/ (Canada, General-American)
- (California, Southern) audio
Etymology
From Middle English seculer, from Old French seculer, from Latin saeculāris (“of the age”), from saeculum.
Meanings
- Not specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical.
- Temporal; worldly, or otherwise not based on something timeless.
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Not bound by the vows of a religious order.
Near-synonym: nonmonastic
secular clergy in Catholicism
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Happening once in an age or century.
Near-synonyms: centurial, centennial
The secular games of ancient Rome were held to mark the end of a saeculum and the beginning of the next.
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Continuing over a long period of time.
The long-term growth in population and income accounts for most secular trends in economic phenomena.
In this event, the s#92;phi(k) curve in Fig. 15.5 will be subject to a secular upward shift, resulting in successively higher intersections with the #92;lambdak ray and also in larger values of #92;bark.
2005, Alpha Chiang, Kevin Wainwright, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill International, page 501:on a secular basis
The skewed distribution of productivity gains is thus less a new phenomenon than a secular trend.
2006, “Economics focus: Dividing the pie”, in The Economist:Growing evidence indicates a secular, age-independent decline in testosterone levels across populations, a trend associated with reduced fertility, metabolic and cardiovascular dysfunction, mood disturbances, and impaired quality of life.
2026 January 9, “Understanding the Secular Decline in Testosterone: Mechanisms, Consequences, and Clinical Perspectives”, in International Journal of Molecular Sciences, volume 27, number 2, →DOI, →ISSN, page 692:The timing of the secular change in the labor wedge coincides with the changing nature of fluctuations that we saw in the data post-1985.
2025 December 14, Marina Azzimonti, Per Krusell, Alisdair McKay, Toshihiko Mukoyama, Macroeconomics, December 2025 edition, retrieved 13 Jul 2026, page 437:
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(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):
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Relating to long-term non-periodic irregularities, especially in planetary motion or magnetic field.
Laplace (1749–1827) "saved the world" by using probability theory to estimate the parameters accurately enough to show that the drift of Jupiter was not secular after all; the observations at hand had covered only a fraction of a cycle of an oscillation with a period of about 880 years.
2003, E. T. Jaynes, Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, Cambridge University Press, pages 234–235:
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(qualifier:atomic physics) Unperturbed over time.
The secular A and nonsecular B parts of hyperfine interaction for any particular frequencies ν_α and ν_β are derived from eqn.(21) by ...
2000, S. A. Dikanov, Two-dimensional ESEEM Spectroscopy, in New Advances in Analytical Chemistry (Atta-ur-Rahman, ed.), page 539
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most secular | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more secular | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| sæcular | alternative, archaic | lexicographic |
Antonyms
nonsecular · sacred · nontemporal · religious · everlasting · cyclical · clerical · nonsecular · frequent · holy · unsecular · nonsecular · short-term · untemporal · sanctified · ecclesiastical · unprofane · monastic · nonsecular · eternal · lay · nonsecular · unworldly · unpredictable · nonsecular · unholy · spiritual · nonprofane · religious · intemporal · nonsecular · regular · non-recurring
Coordinates
Deriveds
postsecular · secularist · secular clergy · secularize · secular equilibrium · pseudosecular · plurisecular · secularness · secularization · sickular · secularisation · multisecular · Secular Zionism · secular resonance · unsecular · secularly · secular arm · supersecular · secularism · paleosecular · antisecular · semisecular · intrasecular · secular religion · pro-secular · secularity · intersecular · secular progressivism · palaeosecular · presecular
Relateds
material · mundane · fin de siècle · rational · practical · atheistic · godless · quotidian · secle
Synonyms
unconsecrated · nonsecular · temporal · multisecular · earthly · nonsecular · profane · worldly · areligious · laicistic · nonmonastic · areligious · unsanctified · irreligious · mundane · chronological · nonreligious · secular · centurial · plurisecular · temporal · worldly · civil · long-term · laicist · centennial
Translations (139)
be све́цкі (not specifically religious) · pt secular (not specifically religious) · sh светован (not specifically religious) · kk зайырлы (not specifically religious) · fi ajallinen (temporal) · el κοσμικός (temporal) · ja 非宗教的な (not specifically religious) · da sekulær (not specifically religious) · el κοσμικός (not specifically religious) · he חילוני (not specifically religious) · bg веко́вен (temporal) · fr laïque (not specifically religious) · hi पन्थनिरपेक्ष (not specifically religious) · nl wereldlijk (not specifically religious) · ru секуля́рный (not specifically religious) · eo sekulara (not specifically religious) · de weltlich (not specifically religious) · sh svetovan (not specifically religious) · ka სეკულარული (not specifically religious) · nl lange termijn (long-term) · yi סעקולער (not specifically religious) · ms sekular (not specifically religious) · sk svetský (not specifically religious) · tr seküler (not specifically religious) · es secular (temporal) · cs světský (not bound by the vows of a monastic order) · hu világi (not specifically religious) · id sekuler (not specifically religious) · da verdslig (not specifically religious) · pt laico (not specifically religious) · de säkular (not specifically religious) · pt secular (astrophysics: of or pertaining to long-term non-periodic irregularities) · id sekulir (not bound by the vows of a monastic order) · sv sekulär (long-term) · he חול (not specifically religious) · nrf sétchulyi (temporal) · fr séculier (not specifically religious) · kmr sekuler (not specifically religious) · es seglar (temporal) · pl świecki (not specifically religious) · cmn 世俗 (not specifically religious) · fi pysyvä (long-term) · ro secular (not specifically religious) · sq laik (not specifically religious) · gd saoghalta (not specifically religious) · sl posveten (not specifically religious) · it secolare (atomic physics: unperturbed over time) · hy աշխարհիկ (not specifically religious) · sv världslig (not specifically religious) · sl sekularen (not specifically religious) · th ทางโลก (not specifically religious) · fi sekulaarinen (atomic physics: unperturbed over time) · tg дунявӣ (not specifically religious) · fi maallikko- (not bound by the vows of a monastic order) · ro laic (not specifically religious) · es seglar (not specifically religious) · tk dünýewi (not specifically religious) · ak wiase (not specifically religious) · pl laicki (not specifically religious) · es secular (happening once in an age or century) · cmn 凡 (not specifically religious) · ja 世俗的な (not specifically religious) · la profānus (not specifically religious) · it secolare (not bound by the vows of a monastic order) · uz dunyoviy (not specifically religious) · cmn 塵俗 /尘俗 (not specifically religious) · nl tijdelijk (temporal) · ota دنیوی (not specifically religious) · mi hāhikore (not specifically religious) · sh свјетован (not specifically religious) · gd saoghalta (temporal) · id sekuler (temporal) · es laico (not specifically religious) · it laico (not specifically religious) · nl seculier (not specifically religious) · mk светски (not specifically religious) · tr dünyevi (not specifically religious) · ru мирско́й (not specifically religious) · kk дүниелік (not specifically religious) · bg продължи́телен (long-term) · ga saolta (not specifically religious) · ja 世俗の (not specifically religious) · sv långsamt skeende (long-term) · ur دُنیاوی (not specifically religious) · ml മതേതര (not specifically religious) · fi maallinen (not specifically religious) · uk сві́тський (not specifically religious) · it centennale (happening once in an age or century) · it secolare (temporal) · ar دُنْيَوِيّ (not specifically religious) · es secular (not bound by the vows of a monastic order) · bg све́тски (not specifically religious) · fi maallinen (temporal) · fi pitkäaikainen (long-term) · nb sekulær (not specifically religious) · is veraldlegur (not specifically religious) · tl banwahanin (not specifically religious) · it secolare (astrophysics: of or pertaining to long-term non-periodic irregularities) · it secolare (not specifically religious) · ky дүйнөлүк (not specifically religious) · fr séculier (temporal) · ru све́тский (not specifically religious) · ar عَلْمَانِيّ (not specifically religious) · ca secular (not specifically religious) · es mundano (not specifically religious) · nrf sétchulyi (not specifically religious) · it secolare (long-term) · cs světský (not specifically religious) · pt secular (happening once in an age or century) · gl secular (not specifically religious) · es secular (long-term) · mi whakawhenua (not specifically religious) · grc ἄθεος (not specifically religious) · it secolare (happening once in an age or century) · ur علمانی (not specifically religious) · ko 세속적 (not specifically religious) · az dünyəvi (not specifically religious) · fi sekulaarinen (happening once in an age or century) · bg ми́рски (not specifically religious) · vi thế tục (not specifically religious) · sh svjetovan (not specifically religious) · cmn 非宗教 (not specifically religious) · es seglar (not bound by the vows of a monastic order) · fr séculaire (happening once in an age or century) · bg тра́ен (long-term) · fi sekulaarinen (astrophysics: of or pertaining to long-term non-periodic irregularities) · fr mondain (not specifically religious) · kk дүнияуи (not specifically religious) · tg ғайридинӣ (not specifically religious) · ca laic (not specifically religious) · fa سکولار (not specifically religious) · uk мирськи́й (not specifically religious) · sv sekulär (not specifically religious) · ga tuata (not specifically religious) · es secular (not specifically religious) · lo ທາງໂລກ (not specifically religious) · mi whakawhenua (temporal) · pt secular (temporal) · fa دنیوی (not specifically religious)