as in temporal
not involving religion or religious matters
that's an issue for the secular authorities, not the church
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Recent Examples of secular
Jamey Keaten,
Los Angeles Times,
1 July 2026
That is the signature of a secular build-out, not a speculative top.
—
Jon Markman,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2026
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
8 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for secular
Adjective
The highly organized religious extravaganza underscored the society’s international reach despite its schismatic outsider status, and appeal to conservative, traditionalist Catholics wary of the modern, secular world.
—
Jamey Keaten,
Los Angeles Times,
1 July 2026
That is the signature of a secular build-out, not a speculative top.
—
Jon Markman,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2026
Noun
The sacred meets the secular in this long-running pairing of a young vicar with a worldly police detective in the titular idyllic Cambridgeshire village during the 1950s and ‘60s.
—
Culture Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
8 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for secular
Recent Examples of Synonyms for secular
Adjective
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This enables researchers to track spatial and temporal trends for many Wisconsin species, such as black bears, bobcats, coyotes, opossum and raccoons.
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Though editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis (a Yorgos Lanthimos regular) cuts the film with brisk concision, there’s also a welcome temporal elasticity here — the sense that life can change in the blink of an eye, but also stall for undefined passages.
Noun
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Although made for a range of sports instead of boating, the Champion launched as Keds’ first shoe in 1916, and the layman would have a hard time telling it apart from the Authentic with nearly identical stitching forming its upper.
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The team is more than happy to translate this to layman’s terms, all while pouring tastes of its cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, grenache, and sauvignon blanc.
Adjective
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Florida statutes creating the charter school framework also require those schools to be nonreligious.
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Republicans vow to appeal Arkansas ruling Last year, seven Arkansas families of various religious and nonreligious backgrounds filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new law requiring all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library.
Noun
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These creators are savvy online marketers who can dizzy a layperson with complex discussions of ROI, content stream diversification and fan-intake funnels.
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Wilding’s evidence seems obvious in hindsight, even to a layperson.
Cite this Entry
“Secular.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/secular. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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