Adjacent Words

Christian era definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the time period beginning with the supposed year of Christ's birth [syn: Christian era, Common era]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1657 the period dating from the birth of Christ

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Christian Chris"tian, a. Christian Endeavor, Young People's Society of. In various Protestant churches, a society of young people organized in each individual church to do Christian work; also, the whole body of such organizations, which are united in a corporation called the United Society of Christian Endeavor, organized in 1885. The parent society was founded in 1881 at Portland, Maine, by Rev. Francis E. Clark, a Congregational minister. Christian Era Christian Era The era in use in all Christian countries, which was intended to commence with the birth of Christ. The era as now established was first used by Dionysius Exiguus (died about 540), who placed the birth of Christ on the 25th of December in the year of Rome 754, which year he counted as 1 a. d. This date for Christ's birth is now generally thought to be about four years too late.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Christian Chris"tian, a. 1. Pertaining to Christ or his religion; as, Christian people. 3. Pertaining to the church; ecclesiastical; as, a Christian court. --Blackstone. 4. Characteristic of Christian people; civilized; kind; kindly; gentle; beneficent. The graceful tact; the Christian art. --Tennyson. Christian Commission. See under Commission. Christian court. Same as Ecclesiastical court. Christian era, the present era, commencing with the birth of Christ. It is supposed that owing to an error of a monk (Dionysius Exiguus, d. about 556) employed to calculate the era, its commencement was fixed three or four years too late, so that 1890 should be 1893 or 1894. Christian name, the name given in baptism, as distinct from the family name, or surname.