"mother church" meaning in English

See mother church in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: mother churches [plural]
Etymology: From an association of spiritual comfort and hierarchy with familial relationships, probably originally as a calque of similar expressions in other languages, especially 2nd-century Latin mater ecclesia (“mother church”) and 12th-century Old French mere eglise (“mother church”). Etymology templates: {{der|en|la|mater ecclesia||mother church}} Latin mater ecclesia (“mother church”), {{der|en|fro|mere}} Old French mere Head templates: {{en-noun}} mother church (plural mother churches)
  1. (Christianity) The Church regarded as nourishing and protecting its members. Categories (topical): Christianity Derived forms: mothering, Mothering Sunday
    Sense id: en-mother_church-en-noun-YKcDE7Tz Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 4 22 29 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 57 5 17 21 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 66 3 14 16 Topics: Christianity
  2. (Christianity) A church with oversight over another or others, now especially a cathedral or metropolitan church. Categories (topical): Christianity
    Sense id: en-mother_church-en-noun-GRDbne8N Topics: Christianity
  3. (Christianity) The original church of a denomination, regarded as having birthed the others. Categories (topical): Christianity
    Sense id: en-mother_church-en-noun-DJLzzATC Topics: Christianity
  4. (Christianity) The original denomination or community of believers from which other denominations and communities of believers sprang. Categories (topical): Christianity
    Sense id: en-mother_church-en-noun-2xTo8FxM Topics: Christianity

Inflected forms

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        "2": "la",
        "3": "mater ecclesia",
        "4": "",
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      "name": "der"
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  "pos": "noun",
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        {
          "_dis1": "71 15 14 0",
          "word": "mothering"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "71 15 14 0",
          "word": "Mothering Sunday"
        }
      ],
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        {
          "text": "Catholics regard Mary as Mother of the Church but an all-male hierarchy as the Mother Church.",
          "type": "example"
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          "text": "Mothering Sunday arose from the custom of visiting mother churches at Mid-Lent, rather than the usual parish church.",
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        "A church with oversight over another or others, now especially a cathedral or metropolitan church."
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Christianity) A church with oversight over another or others, now especially a cathedral or metropolitan church."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "Christianity"
      ]
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    {
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        {
          "text": "The mother church of Christian Scientists is in Boston, Massachusetts.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
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        "The original church of a denomination, regarded as having birthed the others."
      ],
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        "(Christianity) The original church of a denomination, regarded as having birthed the others."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "Christianity"
      ]
    },
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        {
          "kind": "topical",
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            "Society",
            "All topics",
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      ],
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        {
          "text": "The Church of England is the mother church of Anglicans around the world.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1667, Matthew Poole, Dialogue between a Popish Priest & an English Protestant, page 35:",
          "text": "Not Rome, but Ierusalem should be the Mother Church.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1908 February, P.T. Forsyth, Contemporary Review, page 159:",
          "text": "Puritanism is the mother church of Western democracy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "(Christianity) The original denomination or community of believers from which other denominations and communities of believers sprang."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "Christianity"
      ]
    }
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  "word": "mother church"
}
{
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Old French",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
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      "word": "Mothering Sunday"
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      "name": "der"
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        "(Christianity) The Church regarded as nourishing and protecting its members."
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      ],
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Christianity) A church with oversight over another or others, now especially a cathedral or metropolitan church."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "Christianity"
      ]
    },
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        "English terms with usage examples",
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          "text": "The mother church of Christian Scientists is in Boston, Massachusetts.",
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        }
      ],
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        "The original church of a denomination, regarded as having birthed the others."
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        "(Christianity) The original church of a denomination, regarded as having birthed the others."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "Christianity"
      ]
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        {
          "text": "The Church of England is the mother church of Anglicans around the world.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1667, Matthew Poole, Dialogue between a Popish Priest & an English Protestant, page 35:",
          "text": "Not Rome, but Ierusalem should be the Mother Church.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1908 February, P.T. Forsyth, Contemporary Review, page 159:",
          "text": "Puritanism is the mother church of Western democracy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The original denomination or community of believers from which other denominations and communities of believers sprang."
      ],
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        ],
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      ],
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        "(Christianity) The original denomination or community of believers from which other denominations and communities of believers sprang."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "Christianity"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "mother church"
}

Download raw JSONL data for mother church meaning in English (4.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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