Adjacent Words

Conventicle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONVENTICLE, n. [L.]
1. An assembly or meeting; usually applied to a meeting of dissenters from the established church, for religious worship. In this sense it is used by English writers and in English statutes. Hence, an assembly, in contempt. In the United States, this word has no appropriate application, and is little used, or not at all.
2. A secret assembly or cabal; a meeting for plots.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a secret unauthorized meeting for religious worship
2: a building for religious assembly (especially Nonconformists, e.g., Quakers) [syn: conventicle, meetinghouse]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin conventiculum, diminutive of conventus assembly Date: 14th century 1. assembly, meeting 2. an assembly of an irregular or unlawful character 3. an assembly for religious worship; especially a secret meeting for worship not sanctioned by law 4. meetinghouse • conventicler noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. esp. hist. 1 a secret or unlawful religious meeting, esp. of dissenters. 2 a building used for this. Etymology: ME f. L conventiculum (place of) assembly, dimin. of conventus (as CONVENE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Conventicle Con*ven"ti*cle, n. [L. conventiculum, dim. of conventus: cf. F. conventicule. See Convent, n.] 1. A small assembly or gathering; esp., a secret assembly. They are commanded to abstain from all conventicles of men whatsoever. --Ayliffe. 2. An assembly for religious worship; esp., such an assembly held privately, as in times of persecution, by Nonconformists or Dissenters in England, or by Covenanters in Scotland; -- often used opprobriously, as if those assembled were heretics or schismatics. The first Christians could never have had recourse to nocturnal or clandestine conventicles till driven to them by the violence of persecution. --Hammond. A sort of men who . . . attend its [the curch of England's] service in the morning, and go with their wives to a conventicle in the afternoon. --Swift.