Words / B2

SPIR-ich-oo-uh-l/ˈspɪrɪtʃuəl/

Spiritual means connected with the human spirit or with religion, not material things: a spiritual reading; spiritual beliefs. Religious is more institutional; sacred is holier (already elsewhere). A spiritual reading is not close language analysis. Mix-up: spirit is the noun (already in the dictionary); spirited means lively. Do not write spiritual for “lively”.

Meaning

Connected with the human spirit or with religion, not with material things.

Examples

• “A spiritual reading of the poem is not a substitute for close language analysis.”
• “Spiritual care featured in the hospice case study, which is the pastoral-health sense.”

Good to know

spiritual beliefs / life / care; spiritually. Institutional: religious. Trap: spirited. RS, literature, and health. Spirit or faith, not “energetic”.

Near in meaning

religious

New