SPIRITUAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spiritual mean? 

• SPIRITUAL (noun)
  The noun SPIRITUAL has 1 sense:

1. a kind of religious song originated by Blacks in the southern United States

  Familiarity information: SPIRITUAL used as a noun is very rare.

• SPIRITUAL (adjective)
  The adjective SPIRITUAL has 4 senses:

1. concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church

2. concerned with or affecting the spirit or soul

3. lacking material body or form or substance

4. resembling or characteristic of a phantom

  Familiarity information: SPIRITUAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPIRITUAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A kind of religious song originated by Blacks in the southern United States

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Negro spiritual; spiritual

Hypernyms ("spiritual" is a kind of...):

religious song (religious music for singing)

• SPIRITUAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church

Synonyms:

religious; spiritual

Context example:

spiritual songs

Similar:

sacred (concerned with religion or religious purposes)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Concerned with or affecting the spirit or soul

Synonyms:

spiritual; unearthly

Context example:

unearthly love

Similar:

unworldly (not concerned with the temporal world or swayed by mundane considerations)

Derivation:

spirituality (concern with things of the spirit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Lacking material body or form or substance

Context example:

the vital transcendental soul belonging to the spiritual realm

Similar:

immaterial; incorporeal (without material form or substance)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Resembling or characteristic of a phantom

Synonyms:

apparitional; ghostlike; ghostly; phantasmal; spectral; spiritual

Context example:

spiritual tappings at a seance

Similar:

supernatural (not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material)

Derivation:

spirit (any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings)

 Context examples 

They give medical, psychological, and spiritual support.

(Hospice Care, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

Just think what will be his joy when he, too, is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may have spiritual immortality.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Jupiter is not only the good-fortune planet with links to generous financial opportunity, he is also spiritual.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

And there was all the mysterious delight and spiritual wonder of his love for Ruth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A question about an individual's overall spiritual well being.

(Overall Spiritual Well Being, NCI Thesaurus)

A self-reported questionnaire used to measure general well-being and the major domains of quality of life (mental, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being) in patients receiving cancer therapy.

(Linear Analogue Self-Assessment, NCI Thesaurus)

Information collected directly from a patient that typically includes subjective feelings regarding symptoms, functions in daily life, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social well being, and satisfaction with his/her health care.

(Patient Reported Outcome, NCI Thesaurus)

A person who is trained to give spiritual and mental health advice.

(Pastoral counselor, NCI Dictionary)

“So much for thy spiritual punishment,” he cried.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The drylands are also used for tourism and for spiritual or cultural ceremonies.

(Land cover change in Botswana savannas: Don't blame the elephants, National Science Foundation)