Definitions of pastoral

1.   a letter from a pastor to the congregation

2.   A poem on shepherd or rural life; a bucolic; a pastoral letter; a pastorale.

3.   a literary work idealizing the rural life ( especially the life of shepherds)

4.   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.

5.   Pastorate.

6.   used of idealized country life; " a country life of arcadian contentment"; " a pleasant bucolic scene"; " charming in its pastoral setting"; " rustic tranquility"

7.   Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church; as, pastoral duties; a pastoral letter.

8.   A rural poem; letter or address to the clergy.

9.   Pastorship.

10.   Pertaining to the care of a church; pertaining to rural life.

11.   Pertaining to the life of shepherds and rustics.

12.   A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; an idyl; a bucolic.

13.   a musical composition that evokes rural life

14.   A poem which professes to delineate the scenery and life of the country: a pastoral letter or address: ( mus.) a simple melody.

15.   Pert. to shepherds; pert. to the care of a flock or a church; addressed to the clergy of a diocese by its bishop; rustic; rural.

16.   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.

17.   Pertaining to a pastor and his work.

18.   A poem showing happenings in countrylife; a picture showing rural scenes.

19.   Relating to shepherds or shepherd life: rustic: relating to the pastor of a church: addressed to the clergy of a diocese.

20.   Relating to shepherds; rural; relating to clergymen.

21.   A letter from a pastor to his flock.

22.   suggestive of an idyll; charmingly simple and serene; " his idyllic life in Tahiti"; " the pastoral legends of America's Golden Age"

23.   Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural life and scenes; as, a pastoral life.

24.   relating to shepherds or herdsmen or devoted to raising sheep or cattle; " pastoral seminomadic people"; " pastoral land"; " a pastoral economy"

25.   Pastorally.

26.   Pertaining to shepherds or shepherd life; rural; relating to the pastor of a church or the cure of souls; addressed to the clergy.

27.   A sort of dramatic poem on the incidents of a country life; a bishop's pastoral letter, or that of an ecclesiastical court, addressed to both clergy and people.

28.   A poem dealing with rural matters; an idyl.

29.   A picture illustrating rural scenes.

Antonyms for pastoral

polished, metro, urbane, secular, citified, metropolitan, accomplished, cultured, refined, lay, well-bred, polite, urban, urbanized, temporal, nonagricultural, elegant, nonfarm, municipal.

Quotes of pastoral

1. I am always a beginner. I only try to include different parts of life; the pastoral the tragic, et cetera. – Ian Hamilton Finlay

2. Pastoral theology and care helps people look deeper at the intersection between their inherited religious traditions and their current life situations. – Larry Graham

Usage examples for pastoral

1. “ Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess is the best English pastoral drama. ” – Brief History of English and American Literature by Henry A. Beers

2. “ I have carefully considered how far I could satisfy this virtuous family and do my pastoral duty to this poor son; but the very idea of mounting the scaffold with him, the mere thought of assisting in those fatal preparations, sends a shudder as of death through my veins. ” – The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac

3. “ To its vitality and energy must we attribute, to a very great extent, the rapid increase in the number of churches and other institutions which have sprung up and are still springing up in the United States, and to the same source are the clergy mainly indebted for their support in the exercise of their pastoral ministry. ” – Irish Race in the Past and the Present by Aug. J. Thebaud

4. “ The workshop I have had turned into a school- room, of the external condition of which his daughter takes good care, while a great part of her brother Tom's time is devoted to the children; for he and I agree that, where it can be done, the pastoral care ought to be at least equally divided between the sheep and the lambs. ” – Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood by George MacDonald

5. “ Agricultural and pastoral pursuits the chief industries of the people; wheat the most important crop; rice, barley and millet grown. ” – Alden's Handy Atlas of the World by John B. Alden

6. “ For in western America the numbers and ferocity of the Red Indians, and those resources of the land which encouraged the formation of agricultural and timber- producing communities, made villages follow the march of discovery and conquest, while in pastoral Africa villages were few and extremely small. ” – Impressions of South Africa by James Bryce

7. “ There is probably nothing more rest- giving than the marine view, and next come the pretty pastoral and cool woodland scenes, while madonnas and other pictures of religious significance express their own worth- just a few choice, well- selected photographs, etchings, and engravings of agreeable subjects, with a painting or two; that's all we want. ” – The Complete Home by Various

8. “ To- morrow, leaving out of mind this command, which still applies in all its force, I enter into an obligation with a particular church to take upon me its pastoral care: which obligation is binding? ” – Thoughts on Missions by Sheldon Dibble

9. “ In the course of his pastoral work he was called to conduct the funeral service of a young woman who had died quite unexpectedly. ” – Quiet Talks on Power by S.D. Gordon

10. “ For he came to know, through his pastoral work and through his growing acquaintance with the needs of the city, that there was a vast amount of suffering and wretchedness and anguish, because of the inability of the existing hospitals to care for all who needed care. ” – Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell

11. “ The same is true of pastoral life. ” – Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah by Sir Richard Francis Burton

12. “ " Then we shall meet for a clumsy tea at nine at my lodgings," said Hardy, as he went off to his pastoral duties. ” – Tom Brown at Oxford by Thomas Hughes

13. “ I longed for a glimpse of elms and water- meadows, and soft- wooded pastoral hills. ” – Father Payne by Arthur Christopher Benson

14. “ The scene is quite a pastoral one, you see. ” – Janet's Love and Service by Margaret M Robertson

15. “ Bishop Williams's pastoral staff was also exhibited. ” – Report Of Commemorative Services With The Sermons And Addresses At The Seabury Centenary, 1883-1885. by Diocese Of Connecticut

16. “ " Yes," replied Lottie, looking into his face with twinkling eyes, " was that sweet pastoral scene an expression of creative thought?" ” – From Jest to Earnest by E. P. Roe

17. “ I wish we could speak confidently about the origin of the so- called Bedouin, the pastoral inhabitants of the island, who live in the valleys and heights of Mount Haghier, and wander over the surface of the island with their flocks and herds. ” – Southern Arabia by Theodore Bent Mabel Bent

18. “ There was one very curious arrangement, which grew out of the great importance which, as we have already seen, was attached to the ties of relationship and family connection among these pastoral nations. ” – Genghis Khan, Makers of History Series by Jacob Abbott

19. “ It is thus a combination of farce and religious and pastoral play. ” – Four Plays of Gil Vicente by Gil Vicente

20. “ The adventure, reduced to its elements of canned food, alcohol lamp, sleeping- bags and toothbrushes, seemed no adventure at all, but a peaceful and pastoral excursion by three middle- aged women into green fields and pastures new. ” – More Tish by Mary Roberts Rinehart