EVANGELICAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does evangelical mean? 

• EVANGELICAL (adjective)
  The adjective EVANGELICAL has 3 senses:

1. relating to or being a Christian church believing in personal conversion and the inerrancy of the Bible especially the 4 Gospels

2. of or pertaining to or in keeping with the Christian gospel especially as in the first 4 books of the New Testament

3. marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause

  Familiarity information: EVANGELICAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EVANGELICAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or being a Christian church believing in personal conversion and the inerrancy of the Bible especially the 4 Gospels

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

an ultraconservative evangelical message

Pertainym:

evangelicalism (stresses the importance of personal conversion and faith as the means of salvation)

Derivation:

evangel (the four books in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that tell the story of Christ's life and teachings)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or pertaining to or in keeping with the Christian gospel especially as in the first 4 books of the New Testament

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

Gospel (the four books in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that tell the story of Christ's life and teachings)

Derivation:

evangel (the four books in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that tell the story of Christ's life and teachings)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause

Synonyms:

evangelical; evangelistic

Similar:

enthusiastic (having or showing great excitement and interest)

 Context examples 

Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly—here in an evangelical, charitable establishment—as to wear her hair one mass of curls?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I know all your sisters have done for me since—for I have not been insensible during my seeming torpor—and I owe to their spontaneous, genuine, genial compassion as large a debt as to your evangelical charity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)