Congregation1. (n.) The act of congregating, or bringing together, or of collecting into one aggregate or mass.
2. (n.) A collection or mass of separate things.
3. (n.) An assembly of persons; a gathering; esp. an assembly of persons met for the worship of God, and for religious instruction; a body of people who habitually so meet.
4. (n.) The whole body of the Jewish people; -- called also Congregation of the Lord.
5. (n.) A body of cardinals or other ecclesiastics to whom as entrusted some department of the church business; as, the Congregation of the Propaganda, which has charge of the missions of the Roman Catholic Church.
6. (n.) A company of religious persons forming a subdivision of a monastic order.
7. (n.) The assemblage of Masters and Doctors at Oxford or Cambridge University, mainly for the granting of degrees.
8. (n.) the name assumed by the Protestant party under John Knox. The leaders called themselves (1557) Lords of the Congregation.
Thesaurus Entries
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