congregation
part of speech
noun (a congregation, congregations)
meaning for a pupil
1) (church) A congregation is the group of people gathered in a church, synagogue or mosque for worship. tree →
2) The members of a particular church or religious community. tree →
3) (formal) Any gathering of people or animals. tree →
sense in the lessons
In religious education the congregation sings, prays and listens to the sermon; the priest or minister leads them. In everyday life the word is used for members of a local church. Phrases: «the congregation stood», «a large congregation», «a congregation of birds» (rare).
examples
- The congregation sang a hymn together. tree →
- The vicar welcomed the congregation. tree →
- Our church has a small but friendly congregation. tree →
- The rabbi spoke to the congregation in the synagogue. tree →
- The congregation stood up when the bride came in. tree →
- The whole congregation said «Amen». tree →
- A congregation of seagulls gathered on the beach. tree →
- The congregation sat in cushioned seats, and sang out of their Prayer-Books. tree →
note
Countable: congregations. In British English it can take a plural verb («the congregation were singing»). Related: congregate (to gather).
In the corpora
- Baptist churches baptise believers by full immersion and let each congregation govern itself.
- And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a congregation of peoples;
- All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
- And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;
- And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him; and Moses spoke to them.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «congregation» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.