religious

From Anglo-Norman religieus, religius et al., Old French religious, religieux, and their source, Latin religiōsus (“religious, superstitious, conscientious”), from religiō (“religion”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹɪ.ˈlɪ.d͡ʒəs/

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• Rhymes: -ɪdʒəs

religious (comparative more religious, superlative most religious)

1. Concerning religion.

   It is the job of this court to rule on legal matters. We do not consider religious issues.

2. Committed to the practice of religion.

   I was much more religious as a teenager than I am now.

3. Highly dedicated, as one would be to a religion.

   I'm a religious fan of college basketball.

• (concerning religion): irreligious, profane, secular, atheistic
• (committed to religion): areligious, irreligious
• (highly dedicated): casual

• Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Baha'i, Wiccan, Eckist, Druid, Jain, Raëlian, Sikh, Taoist, Zoroastrian, Unitarian Universalist, New Ager, reconstructionist, LaVeyan Satanist, Scientologist, Rastafarian, Taoist, pagan, spiritist, humanist, Thelemite, Confucianist

religious (plural religious or religiouses)

1. A member of a religious order, i.e. a monk or nun.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 354:

     Towards the end of the seventh century the monks of Fleury [...] clandestinely excavated the body of Benedict himself, plus the corpse of his even more shadowy sister and fellow religious, Scholastica.

• religious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• religious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.