Adjacent Words

Communion definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COMMUNION, n.
1. Fellowship; intercourse between two persons or more; interchange of transactions, or offices; a state of giving and receiving; agreement; concord.
We are naturally led to seek communion and fellowship with other.
What communion hath light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6.
2. Mutual intercourse or union in religious worship, or in doctrine and discipline.
The Protestant churches have no communion with the Romish church.
3. The body of Christians who have one common faith and discipline. The three grand communions into which the Christian church is divided, are those of the Greek, the Romish and the Protestant churches.
4. The act of communicating the sacrament of the Eucharist; the celebration of the Lords supper; the participation of the blessed sacrament. The fourth council of Lateran decrees that every believer shall receive the communion at least at Easter.
5. Union of professing Christians in a particular church; as, members in full communion.
Communion-service, in the liturgy of the Episcopal church, is the office for the administration of the holy sacrament.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of participating in the celebration of the Eucharist; "the governor took Communion with the rest of the congregation" [syn: Communion, Holy Communion, sacramental manduction, manduction]
2: sharing thoughts and feelings [syn: communion, sharing]
3: (Christianity) a group of Christians with a common religious faith who practice the same rites

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin communion-, communio mutual participation, from communis Date: 14th century 1. an act or instance of sharing 2. a. capitalized a Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Christ's death or as symbols for the realization of a spiritual union between Christ and communicant or as the body and blood of Christ b. the act of receiving Communion c. capitalized the part of a Communion service in which the sacrament is received 3. intimate fellowship or rapport ; communication 4. a body of Christians having a common faith and discipline <the Anglican communion>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a sharing, esp. of thoughts etc.; fellowship (their minds were in communion). 2 participation; a sharing in common (communion of interests). 3 (Communion, Holy Communion) a the Eucharist. b participation in the Communion service. c (attrib.) of or used in the Communion service (Communion-table; Communion-cloth; Communion-rail). 4 fellowship, esp. between branches of the Catholic Church. 5 a body or group within the Christian faith (the Methodist communion). Phrases and idioms: communion of saints fellowship between Christians living and dead. Etymology: ME f. OF communion or L communio f. communis common

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Communion Com*mun"ion, n. [L. communio: cf. F. communion. See Common.] 1. The act of sharing; community; participation. ``This communion of goods.'' --Blackstone. 2. Intercourse between two or more persons; esp., intimate association and intercourse implying sympathy and confidence; interchange of thoughts, purposes, etc.; agreement; fellowship; as, the communion of saints. We are naturally induced to seek communion and fellowship with others. --Hooker. What communion hath light with darkness? --2 Cor. vi. 14. Bare communion with a good church can never alone make a good man. --South. 3. A body of Christians having one common faith and discipline; as, the Presbyterian communion. 4. The sacrament of the eucharist; the celebration of the Lord's supper; the act of partaking of the sacrament; as, to go to communion; to partake of the communion. Close communion. See under Close, a. Communion elements, the bread and wine used in the celebration of the Lord's supper. Communion service, the celebration of the Lord's supper, or the office or service therefor. Communion table, the table upon which the elements are placed at the celebration of the Lord's supper. Communion in both kinds, participation in both the bread and wine by all communicants. Communion in one kind, participation in but one element, as in the Roman Catholic Church, where the laity partake of the bread only. Syn: Share; participation; fellowship; converse; intercourse; unity; concord; agreement.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(communions) 1. Communion with nature or with a person is the feeling that you are sharing thoughts or feelings with them. ...communion with nature. N-UNCOUNT: also a N, oft N with n 2. Communion is the Christian ceremony in which people eat bread and drink wine in memory of Christ's death. Most villagers took communion only at Easter. N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl

Easton's Bible Dictionary

fellowship with God (Gen. 18:17-33; Ex. 33:9-11; Num. 12:7, 8), between Christ and his people (John 14:23), by the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1), of believers with one another (Eph. 4:1-6). The Lord's Supper is so called (1 Cor. 10:16, 17), because in it there is fellowship between Christ and his disciples, and of the disciples with one another.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Participation, fellowship, converse, intercourse. 2. Eucharist, Sacrament, Lord's Supper, Holy Communion.

Moby Thesaurus

Agnus Dei, Alleluia, Anamnesis, Blessing, Canon, Collect, Consecration, Credo, Dismissal, Epistle, Eucharist, Fraction, Gloria, Gospel, Gradual, Holy Communion, Host, Introit, Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison, Last Gospel, Last Supper, Lavabo, Offertory, Paternoster, Pax, Post-Communion, Preface, Sacrament Sunday, Sanctus, Secreta, Tersanctus, Tract, altar bread, bread, bread and wine, consecrated bread, consecrated elements, consubstantiation, elements, impanation, intinction, loaf, real presence, subpanation, the Holy Sacrament, the Sacrament, transubstantiation, wafer

Moby Thesaurus

Angelus, Ave, Ave Maria, Bolshevik, Bolshie, Communist, ESP, Hail Mary, Kyrie Eleison, Leninist, Marxist, Paternoster, Red, Stalinist, Trotskyist, accord, accordance, adherents, affiliation, affinity, agape, agreement, aid prayer, amity, answer, appeal, balance, beadroll, beads, beseechment, bidding prayer, body, bonds of harmony, branch, breviary, brotherly love, caritas, cement of friendship, chaplet, charity, church, class, coequality, collect, collective farm, collectivism, collectivity, collegiality, colloquial discourse, colloquy, commerce, commie, common ownership, communal effort, communication, communism, community, community of interests, compatibility, comrade, concord, concordance, confession, congeniality, congress, connection, contact, contemplation, conversation, converse, conversing, cooperation, cooperative society, corelation, correlation, correlativism, correlativity, correspondence, creed, cult, dealing, dealings, democracy, denomination, devotions, disciples, discourse, division, empathy, entreaty, equilibrium, equipollence, equivalence, esprit, esprit de corps, exchange, faction, faith, feeling of identity, fellow feeling, fellow traveler, fellowship, followers, frictionlessness, give-and-take, good vibes, good vibrations, grace, group, happy family, harmony, identity, impetration, imploration, information, interaction, intercession, interchange, intercommunication, intercommunion, intercourse, interlocution, interplay, inverse proportion, inverse ratio, inverse relationship, invocation, ism, kibbutz, kinship, kolkhoz, like-mindedness, linguistic intercourse, litany, love, meditation, message, mutuality, obsecration, obtestation, offshoot, oneness, order, organization, orison, party, peace, persuasion, petition, pink, pinko, prayer, prayer wheel, profit sharing, proportionality, public ownership, rapping, rapport, rapprochement, reciprocality, reciprocation, reciprocity, relativity, religious order, reply, response, rogation, rosary, schism, school, sect, sectarism, segment, sharecropping, sharing, silent prayer, social activity, social intercourse, social relations, socialism, society, solidarity, speaking, speech, speech circuit, speech situation, state ownership, suit, supplication, symmetry, sympathy, symphony, talking, team spirit, telepathy, thanks, thanksgiving, touch, town meeting, traffic, truck, two-way communication, understanding, union, unison, unity, variety, verbal intercourse, version