anticlerical

adjective

an·​ti·​cler·​i·​cal

ˌan-tē-ˈkler-i-kəl,

ˌan-ˌtī- 

: opposed to clericalism or to the interference or influence of the clergy in secular affairs

anticlerical noun

anticlericalism

ˌan-tē-ˈkler-i-kə-ˌli-zəm

ˌan-ˌtī- 

noun

Examples of anticlerical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In 1910, France was in an uproar over recent anticlerical legislation that had led to the closure of many Catholic schools and monasteries. —Rosanna Warren, Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2024

But its priests have historically been constrained by the anticlerical policies that took root during the 19th-century war of independence from Spain. —Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2024

Assisting him in the enterprise were heteronyms such as Carlos Otto, who translated detective fiction, Joaquim Moura-Costa, the author of an anticlerical lampoon, and Vicente Guedes, who later added pages to The Book of Disquiet. —Benjamin Kunkel, Harper's Magazine, 26 Oct. 2021

Champollion was brash, romantic, outspoken, anticlerical, and antimonarchist. —Ursula Lindsey, The New York Review of Books, 27 Apr. 2021

The radical left, though, has always been violently anticlerical. —Dominic Green, WSJ, 26 Sep. 2020

In the years since the 2015 attack, Charlie Hebdo, an heir to a long tradition of French anticlerical irreverence, has become a national symbol. —James McAuley, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2020

And though many of the tougher anticlerical laws have been eased in modern times, church-state separation remains entrenched as a core political concept. —Washington Post, 18 Dec. 2019

Though witches have most often been treated throughout history as evil in both fiction and in real life, sentiments began to change in the 19th century as anticlerical, individualist values took hold across Europe. —Pam Grossman, The Atlantic, 25 Aug. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1759, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for anticlerical

• hemispherical
• chimerical
• hysterical
• numerical
• clerical
• spherical