'Pastoral' definitions:
Definition of 'pastoral'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Of or relating to a pastor; "pastoral work"; "a pastoral letter"
adjective
Relating to shepherds or herdsmen or devoted to raising sheep or cattle; "pastoral seminomadic people"; "pastoral land"; "a pastoral economy" [syn: bucolic, pastoral]
adjective
(used with regard to idealized country life) idyllically rustic; "a country life of arcadian contentment"; "a pleasant bucolic scene"; "charming in its pastoral setting"; "rustic tranquility" [syn: arcadian, bucolic, pastoral]
noun
noun
A letter from a pastor to the congregation
noun
A literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the life of shepherds)
Definition of 'Pastoral'
From: GCIDE
- Pastoral \Pas"tor*al\, n.
- 1. A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyl; a bucolic. [1913 Webster]
- A pastoral is a poem in which any action or passion is represented by its effects on a country life. --Rambler. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Mus.) 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. --Moore (Encyc. of Music). [1913 Webster]
- 3. (Eccl.) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese; also (Prot. Epis. Ch.), a letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Pastoral'
From: GCIDE
- Pastoral \Pas"tor*al\, a. [L. pastoralis: cf. F. pastoral. See Pastor.]
- 1. Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural life and scenes; as, a pastoral life. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church; as, pastoral duties; a pastoral letter. [1913 Webster]
- Pastoral staff (Eccl.), a staff, usually of the form of a shepherd's crook, borne as an official emblem by a bishop, abbot, abbess, or other prelate privileged to carry it. See Crook, and Crosier.
- Pastoral Theology, that part of theology which treats of the duties of pastors. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'pastoral'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abbatial,
- abbatical,
- agrarian,
- agrestic,
- agricultural,
- airscape,
- alba,
- Alcaic,
- anacreontic,
- Anacreontic,
- antimasque,
- arcadian,
- Arcadian,
- archiepiscopal,
- at peace,
- audience success,
- balada,
- ballad,
- ballade,
- ballet,
- bardic,
- bloodless,
- bomb,
- broadcast drama,
- bucolic,
- burlesque show,
- calm,
- campestral,
- canonical,
- canso,
- capitular,
- capitulary,
- Castalian,
- chanson,
- charade,
- churchly,
- cityscape,
- clerical,
- clerihew,
- cliff hanger,
- closet drama,
- cloudscape,
- comedy drama,
- concordant,
- countrified,
- country,
- critical success,
- daytime serial,
- dialogue,
- didactic,
- diorama,
- dirge,
- dithyramb,
- dithyrambic,
- documentary drama,
- drama,
- dramalogue,
- dramatic,
- dramatic play,
- dramatic series,
- duodrama,
- duologue,
- ecclesiastic,
- ecclesiastical,
- eclogic,
- eclogue,
- Edenic,
- elegiac,
- elegy,
- English sonnet,
- epic,
- epic theater,
- epigram,
- episcopal,
- episcopalian,
- epithalamium,
- epode,
- epopee,
- epopoeia,
- epos,
- evangelistic,
- experimental theater,
- exterior,
- extravaganza,
- failure,
- farm,
- farming,
- farmscape,
- flop,
- gasser,
- genuine,
- georgic,
- ghazel,
- giveaway,
- Grand Guignol,
- haiku,
- halcyon,
- happening,
- harmonious,
- heroic,
- hit,
- hit show,
- Homeric,
- homespun,
- Horatian ode,
- Hudibrastic,
- humble,
- idyll,
- idyllic,
- improvisational drama,
- inartificial,
- innocent,
- interior,
- Italian sonnet,
- jingle,
- landscape,
- legitimate drama,
- limerick,
- lowland,
- lyric,
- madrigal,
- masque,
- melodrama,
- ministerial,
- minstrel show,
- miracle,
- miracle play,
- mock-heroic,
- monodrama,
- monody,
- monologue,
- morality,
- morality play,
- music drama,
- musical revue,
- mystery,
- mystery play,
- narrative,
- narrative poem,
- native,
- natural,
- naturelike,
- nursery rhyme,
- ode,
- opera,
- orderly,
- outland,
- pacific,
- pageant,
- palinode,
- panel show,
- pantomime,
- Passion play,
- pastoral drama,
- pastoral elegy,
- pastorela,
- pastourelle,
- peaceable,
- peaceful,
- peacetime,
- Petrarchan sonnet,
- piece,
- Pierian,
- Pindaric,
- Pindaric ode,
- piping,
- placid,
- play,
- playlet,
- poem,
- poetic,
- poetico-mystical,
- poetico-mythological,
- poetico-philosophic,
- poetlike,
- prelatial,
- prelatic,
- priest-ridden,
- priestish,
- priestly,
- problem play,
- prothalamium,
- provincial,
- psychodrama,
- quiet,
- quiz show,
- rabbinic,
- radio drama,
- restful,
- review,
- revue,
- rhapsodic,
- rhyme,
- riverscape,
- rondeau,
- rondel,
- roundel,
- roundelay,
- runic,
- rural,
- rustic,
- sacerdotal,
- sapphic,
- Sapphic ode,
- satire,
- scape,
- scene,
- seapiece,
- seascape,
- sensational play,
- serene,
- serial,
- sestina,
- Shakespearean sonnet,
- show,
- simple,
- sitcom,
- situation comedy,
- skaldic,
- sketch,
- skit,
- skyscape,
- sloka,
- snowscape,
- soap,
- soap opera,
- sociodrama,
- soft,
- song,
- sonnet,
- sonnet sequence,
- spectacle,
- stage play,
- stage show,
- straight drama,
- success,
- suspense drama,
- tableau,
- tableau vivant,
- talk show,
- tanka,
- teleplay,
- television drama,
- television play,
- tenso,
- tenzone,
- theater of cruelty,
- Theocritean,
- threnody,
- Tom show,
- total theater,
- townscape,
- tranquil,
- triolet,
- troubadour poem,
- ultramontane,
- unadorned,
- unaffected,
- unartificial,
- unassuming,
- uncomplicated,
- undesigning,
- undisguising,
- undissembling,
- undissimulating,
- unembellished,
- unfeigning,
- unpretending,
- unpretentious,
- unspoiled,
- untroubled,
- unvarnished,
- upland,
- variety show,
- vaudeville,
- vaudeville show,
- vehicle,
- verse,
- verselet,
- versicle,
- view,
- villanelle,
- virelay,
- waterscape,
- word-of-mouth success,
- work