1
as in rural
of, relating to, associated with, or typical of open areas with few buildings or people
painted a pastoral scene of a flower-filled meadow
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ministerial
of, relating to, or characteristic of the clergy
pastoral advice to a young couple preparing to marry
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in pastorale
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pastoral
Taryn White, Travel + Leisure, 23 Dec. 2024
Reach out to social services groups such as Lutheran Social Service, churches, senior dining programs, or local pastoral associations.
—Kay Johnson, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2025
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 June 2024
This blend of the pastoral and the religious made the Senegal River feel like an archaic vision of paradise, a strip of vivid life in an otherwise unforgiving environment.
—J.r. Patterson, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Dec. 2023
See All Example Sentences for pastoral
Adjective
For example, in Tuscany, families can explore Renaissance art and architecture amidst pastoral landscapes.
—Taryn White, Travel + Leisure, 23 Dec. 2024
Reach out to social services groups such as Lutheran Social Service, churches, senior dining programs, or local pastoral associations.
—Kay Johnson, Twin Cities, 6 Feb. 2025
Noun
As with Home, the story is about a return to the pastoral, at least ostensibly: Marina (Maggie Siff, always two ticks better than her material) is a broadcast journalist who’s trying to settle down after a career spent in war zones.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 June 2024
This blend of the pastoral and the religious made the Senegal River feel like an archaic vision of paradise, a strip of vivid life in an otherwise unforgiving environment.
—J.r. Patterson, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Dec. 2023
See All Example Sentences for pastoral
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pastoral
Adjective
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This committee identifies and reduces systemic barriers to healthcare access to marginalized communities like people of color, those who are poor and those with limited access to healthcare resources such as those that live in rural areas of America.—
Omer Awan,
Forbes,
25 Feb. 2025
-
Reportedly, Posey also enjoys tending to a garden at the rural retreat.—
Katie Schultz,
Architectural Digest,
25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Lebanon’s system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.—
Reuters,
NBC News,
9 Jan. 2025
-
Dominic LeBlanc has since been appointed to succeed her and head the finance ministerial portfolio.—
Ruxandra Iordache,
CNBC,
6 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
The lo-fi minimalism of her previous records has ceded to a gaseous soft-pop idyll in which strummed chords fan out like galaxies and endless reverb signals the unfathomable reach of the infinite.—
Pitchfork,
Pitchfork,
3 Dec. 2024
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In his rural idyll, McKinniss might be moving into a more contemplative mood than that of his 20s and 30s.—
Chloe Schama,
Vogue,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Lachlan Murdoch delivered a brief elegy this morning for shuttered sports streaming joint venture Venu but said Fox is moving ahead with plans to launch a new direct-to-consumer service drawing on all its content and brands by the end of the calendar year.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
4 Feb. 2025
-
But the meeting will be more elegy than transformation.—
Jude Blanchette,
Foreign Affairs,
14 Oct. 2022
Noun
-
He is known as the patron saint of bookbinders and wrote an illustrative book of psalms while at the monastery of St. Finnian, according to Discovering Ireland.—
Joyce Orlando,
The Tennessean,
15 Mar. 2024
-
Inside the nave, choirs sang psalms, and the cathedral’s mighty organ thundered back to life in a triumphant interplay of melodies.—
Thomas Adamson and John Leicester,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
At best, Gidden’s singing and arrangement of a Monteverdi madrigal achieve remarkable eloquence.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Sep. 2021
-
After this is a setting of a Whitman poem for chorus a cappella in the style of a sixteenth-century madrigal, followed by a section in which a line from Dante’s Inferno is sung by a vocal trio in the style of a medieval motet.—
Walter Simmons,
Harper's Magazine,
25 May 2021
Noun
-
These natural history epics were once the preserve of the BBC, which commissioned the likes of Blue Planet and Planet Earth, but the streamers and American nets have gotten into the game in a big way.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
20 Feb. 2025
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That victory kicked off Nunes’ epic run as the queen of the women’s bantamweight division.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes,
20 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
The retrospective’s subtitle, The Messenger, nods to both one of his works—a canvas ode to Art Blakey—and his mission.—
Julie Belcove,
Robb Report,
22 Feb. 2025
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One of the most popular pizzas is an ode to the banh mi Aaron ate after church as a kid.—
Elazar Sontag,
Bon Appétit,
20 Feb. 2025
Articles Related to pastoral
Cite this Entry
“Pastoral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pastoral. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.
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