congregation
Pluralcongregations
- 1The group of people who come together in a church, mosque, temple, or other place to worship.
The congregation stood and sang together at the start of the service.
After prayers, the imam greeted everyone in the congregation outside the mosque.
Similarflock, worshippers, parishioners, assembly, faithful
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- 2A group of people who belong to the same church, synagogue, or mosque and worship there together.
Our congregation is raising money to fix the building's roof.
She joined a new congregation after moving to Texas.
Similarparish, church, fellowship, community, flock
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- 3The act of coming together in one place as a group.
The congregation of students in the hallway made it hard to walk through.
In winter, the congregation of penguins into big groups helps them stay warm.
Similargathering, assembly, aggregation, accumulation, concentration
Oppositedispersal, dispersion, scattering
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- 4Any large group of people gathered together in one place.
A congregation of fans waited outside the hotel to see the singer.
Every summer, the beach draws a congregation of tourists from all over.
Similarcrowd, gathering, throng, assembly, assemblage
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- 5One of the main offices that help run the Catholic Church from the Vatican.
Each congregation at the Vatican takes care of one part of church business.
The pope chose a cardinal to lead the congregation that handled Catholic schools.
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- 6At Oxford University, the main group of people who work there, including teachers and office staff.
The congregation at Oxford includes professors, librarians, and the heads of colleges.
She became a member of the congregation when she started her teaching job at Oxford.
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- 7A group of some kinds of birds, such as eagles, when they gather together.
Like how a group of fish is called a school, a group of certain birds is called a congregation.
A congregation of eagles circled above the river, looking for fish.
We saw a congregation of plovers resting on the sand.
Similarflock
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Practice
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Origin
It comes from Latin congregatio, from congrego meaning 'to gather into a flock.' In the 1520s the Bible translator William Tyndale used it to translate a Greek word meaning 'those called together,' and 16th-century Reformers used it instead of 'church.'