pastoral

American  

[pas-ter-uhl, pah-ster-] / ˈpæs tər əl, ˈpɑ stər- /

adjective

1. having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas.

   pastoral scenery; the pastoral life.

   Synonyms:

   simple, rural, rustic

2. pertaining to the country or to life in the country; rural; rustic.

3. portraying or suggesting idyllically the life of shepherds or of the country, as a work of literature, art, or music.

   pastoral poetry; a pastoral symphony.

   Synonyms:

   idyllic, bucolic

4. of, relating to, or consisting of shepherds.

5. of or relating to a pastor or the duties of a pastor.

   pastoral visits to a hospital.

6. used for pasture, as land.

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noun

1. a poem, play, or the like, dealing with the life of shepherds, commonly in a conventional or artificial manner, or with simple rural life generally; a bucolic.

   Synonyms:

   georgic, idyll, eclogue

2. a picture or work of art representing the shepherds' life.

3. Music. pastorale.

4. a treatise on the duties of a pastor.

5. a letter to the people from their spiritual pastor.

6. a letter to the clergy or people of an ecclesiastical district from its bishop.

7. Also called pastoral staff.  crosier.

pastoral British  

/ ˈpɑːstərəl /

adjective

1. of, characterized by, or depicting rural life, scenery, etc

2. (of a literary work) dealing with an idealized form of rural existence in a conventional way

3. (of land) used for pasture

4. denoting or relating to the branch of theology dealing with the duties of a clergyman or priest to his congregation

5. of or relating to a clergyman or priest in charge of a congregation or his duties as such

6. of or relating to a teacher's responsibility for the personal, as the distinct from the educational, development of pupils

7. of or relating to shepherds, their work, etc

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noun

1. a literary work or picture portraying rural life, esp the lives of shepherds in an idealizing way See also eclogue

2. music a variant of pastorale

3. Christianity

   1. a letter from a clergyman to the people under his charge

   2. the letter of a bishop to the clergy or people of his diocese

   3. Also called: pastoral staff.  the crosier or staff carried by a bishop as a symbol of his pastoral responsibilities

pastoral Cultural  

1. A work of art that celebrates the cultivated enjoyment of the countryside. The poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” by Christopher Marlowe, is a pastoral. Its first stanza reads:

   Come live with me, and be my love;

   And we will all the pleasures prove

   That hills and valleys, dales and fields,

   Woods or steepy mountain yields.

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Other Word Forms

• nonpastoral adjective
• nonpastorally adverb
• pastoralism noun
• pastorally adverb
• semipastoral adjective
• semipastorally adverb
• unpastoral adjective
• unpastorally adverb

Etymology

Origin of pastoral

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin pāstōrālis, equivalent to pāstōr-, stem of pāstor ( pastor ) + -ālis -al ¹

Related Words

• agrarian
• bucolic
• idyllic
• rural
• rustic