pastoral means of or pertaining to shepherds or herders of other livestock. It carries an Arena rating of 1500, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, pastoral ranks #2,317 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #2,328 of 14,438 for Most Storied Words, #2,351 of 14,308 for Most Malleable Words, #2,678 of 14,410 for Most Ponderous Words.
pastoral is pronounced /ˈpɑːstə.ɹəl/.
Why “pastoral” is a great word
Pertaining to shepherds, rural life, the spiritual guidance of a congregation, or an artistic work idealizing rural life. From the Latin pāstor ("shepherd") + -ālis (adjective-forming suffix). Unlike "rustic," which emphasizes the simple or unsophisticated, or "clerical," which denotes administrative functions, pastoral carries the weight of deliberate idealization. It is the lute music drifting from a painted glade, the quiet hand on a shoulder in a hospital room, and the imagined harmony of shepherds reciting verse beneath a willow—all of it a longing, not for simplicity, but for a world where care, like the shepherd’s staff, is gentle, vigilant, and never turned to power.
Etymology
From Middle French, Old French pastoral, from Latin pāstōrālis, from pāstor (“shepherd”), + adjective suffix -ālis.
adj
- Of or pertaining to shepherds or herders of other livestock.“Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism.”
- Relating to rural life and scenes, in particular of poetry.“We were living a pastoral life.”
- Relating to the care of souls, to the pastor of a church or to any local religious leader charged with the service of individual parishioners, i.e. a priest or rabbi.“pastoral duties”
noun
- A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyll; a bucolic.“Ethel was silent from surprise: she had prepared herself for anger—even sorrow; but ridicule left her without an answer. What could she say to a hearer, who only smiled, and to whom emotion was only a scene in a pastoral?”
- A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.
- A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese.
- A letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.
Words closest in meaning
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