catholic
- 1Of or relating to the Catholic Church, the Christian church led by the Pope, as distinct from Orthodox and Protestant churches.
The couple were married in a small Catholic church outside Boston.
The local Catholic parish runs a food pantry every Saturday morning.
UsageWritten with a capital C in this meaning: a Catholic school, the Catholic Church.
- 2A person who is a member of a Catholic church.
She was raised a Catholic but now rarely attends services.
Catholics and Protestants worked side by side on the flood relief effort.
UsageWritten with a capital C. Common phrases: raised a Catholic, a practicing Catholic.
Note
Once a title won in argument rather than simply held: Edward Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall, says the consubstantialists "by their success have deserved and obtained the title of Catholics" over their adversaries.
- 3Including a wide range of things; broad or all-embracing, used especially of a person's tastes, interests, or sympathies, and of a collection's or study's scope.
His tastes in food are thoroughly catholic, running from street tacos to twelve-course tasting menus.
She was catholic in her friendships, as much at ease with farmers as with professors.
UsageWritten with a small c, most often with tastes, interests or sympathies: catholic tastes in music.
Note
The lowercase does real work here: written small, the word keeps a person's range of tastes apart from the church. Anthony Burgess turns the clash into a joke in Beds in the East (catholic tastes, "with a small c, of course"), and speakers still add "small c" aloud to head off the misreading.
Less common meanings
- 4Of interest or use to all people, wherever they live.
The journal prints local studies only when their findings are of catholic interest.
The museum filled its new hall with works of catholic appeal, hoping to draw visitors from every part of the world.
Oppositelocal
Note
At home in the phrase of catholic interest, or of catholic use, where it is set against what matters to one place only: James Anthony Froude writes of editors who chose what was of catholic rather than of national interest. That contrast is the key to reading it, since catholic here means for everyone, not for one country.
- 5Common or widespread, and especially found everywhere.
Note
Long out of use: the word once meant simply widespread, as an error or a disease might be. A reader now would hear the "broad" sense in it, or a church, so present-day writing says widespread, prevalent or common instead. The sense matters only for reading older texts, where a catholic fault is a common one, not a religious one.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Catholic historically meant common or prevalent, especially universally prevalent; this sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- In the historical sense described, a catholic fault means a common fault. en.wiktionary.org
- 6Of a medicine or remedy, applicable to every ailment or case.
Note
Medicine kept the word's root sense, universal, for itself for a time: a catholic remedy was one claimed to work on every ailment, from fevers to gout. The use is obsolete. Where older writers praised a catholic medicine, present-day English says cure-all or panacea.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The word's underlying Greek sense is 'universal'. en.wiktionary.org
- A catholic remedy was understood as universally applicable to ailments, including fevers and gout. en.wiktionary.org
- The medical sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
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Origin
Goes back to Ancient Greek katholikós ("universal"), from katá ("according to") and hólos ("whole"), by way of Latin catholicus and Old French catholique.