encyclical

/ɛnˈsɪklɪkəl/

Etymology

From Late Latin encyclicus + -al, from Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος (enkúklios, “circular, general”), from ἐν- (en-) + κύκλος (kúklos, “circle”).

encyclical means intended for general circulation. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 78 out of 100.

Why this word is great

ENCYCLICAL — [Adjective, Noun] A papal letter for general circulation among bishops and the faithful; as an adjective, intended for wide dissemination. From the Late Latin encyclicus, from the Ancient Greek ἐγκύκλιος (enkúklios, "circular, general"), from ἐν- (en-, "in") + κύκλος (kúklos, "circle"). Unlike a papal "bull" — a weighty, sealed instrument for specific decree — or a bishop's "pastoral letter" — a locally bounded directive — an encyclical is the Pope's own teaching voice cast in a wide, deliberate orbit. It is the rustle of vellum copies dispatched from Rome, the sonorous Latin cadences echoing in a thousand stone naves, and the faint tremor sent through the secular world's foundations — a word made not for the vault but for the current, carrying doctrine on the common air to draw a disparate world into a single, contemplating circle.

adj

Intended for general circulation.

noun

A papal letter, intended for general circulation in the Catholic Church.“In his encyclical – the first major text on safeguarding humankind of his papacy – he also apologised for the Catholic church’s long delay in condemning slavery, describing it as “a wound in Christian memory”, and spoke of the “new forms of slavery” due to the digital economy.”