secularity

The adjective secular (noun form secularity) has several different meanings in different contexts. The noun is much less frequently used than the adjective.

Etymology

Secularity and secular are derived from the Latin word saeculum, an expression of time meaning one generation or century. Strictly speaking, a secular occurrence is thus something which happens approximately once every one hundred years. Such an occurrence would usually be seen as a long-term event, but when compared to the age of the universe, or to an infinite amount of time, secular may instead be used to describe something which occurs or repeats very briefly.

The word in all cases refers to the passage of time. It can mean a short time, a long time, or simply temporal as opposed to eternal.

Usual meaning

The most common meaning of secular is "not specifically religious", because religion (but more specifically God as described in Christianity) is deemed to be timeless:

• Secularity (non-religiosity)

Other uses

• Secular basis (finance)
• Secular clergy and Secular institute (Roman Catholicism)
• Secular equilibrium (radioactive decay)
• Secular games (Roman history)
• Secular phenomena (astronomy)
• Secular trend (financial time series)
• Secular variation

Related concepts

• Secularization
• Secularism

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Donate to Wikimedia