1
as in rural
of, relating to, associated with, or typical of open areas with few buildings or people
painted a pastoral scene of a flower-filled meadow
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ministerial
of, relating to, or characteristic of the clergy
pastoral advice to a young couple preparing to marry
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in pastorale
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pastoral
Joanne M. Pierce, The Conversation, 15 Jan. 2025
Something serene and pastoral, even idyllic — resonating in the heart and the imagination.
—Giovanni Russonello, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2025
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 June 2024
This blend of the pastoral and the religious made the Senegal River feel like an archaic vision of paradise, a strip of vivid life in an otherwise unforgiving environment.
—J.r. Patterson, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for pastoral 
Adjective
Today, many cardinals are engaged in pastoral ministry, as bishops of a diocese or archbishops of a larger archdiocese.
—Joanne M. Pierce, The Conversation, 15 Jan. 2025
Something serene and pastoral, even idyllic — resonating in the heart and the imagination.
—Giovanni Russonello, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2025
Noun
As with Home, the story is about a return to the pastoral, at least ostensibly: Marina (Maggie Siff, always two ticks better than her material) is a broadcast journalist who’s trying to settle down after a career spent in war zones.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 June 2024
This blend of the pastoral and the religious made the Senegal River feel like an archaic vision of paradise, a strip of vivid life in an otherwise unforgiving environment.
—J.r. Patterson, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for pastoral
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pastoral
Adjective
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What: The exhibition presents 26 large-scale photographs focusing on rural subjects.—
Dan Kelly,
Kansas City Star,
1 Feb. 2025
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Crooked Creek fire On Thursday, firefighters contained another wildfire in McDowell County, the Crooked Creek fire that previously forced families to evacuate from their rural Western North Carolina homes.—
Joe Marusak,
Charlotte Observer,
1 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Lebanon’s system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.—
Reuters,
NBC News,
9 Jan. 2025
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At the time, legal experts said that wasn't true, that the vice president's role in certification, even according to the original Electoral Count Act, was purely ministerial.—
Miles Parks,
NPR,
6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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This array of circumstances — what supporters call a pastoral idyll and critics call ripe for worker abuse — has led to frequent conflict between labor advocates and ranchers in recent years.—
Ian Max Stevenson,
Idaho Statesman,
17 Jan. 2025
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In the post-war years, growing numbers of Americans pursued a suburban idyll of modern convenience.—
David Carlin,
Forbes,
6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Tell, yell, hell, hello, elegy, tottle, otology, geology, theology.—
John McPhee,
The New Yorker,
13 Jan. 2025
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Worm’s visualization of his collection, then, is an unwitting elegy of species pushed to the brink of existence by human pressures.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
8 Jan. 2025
Noun
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He is known as the patron saint of bookbinders and wrote an illustrative book of psalms while at the monastery of St. Finnian, according to Discovering Ireland.—
Joyce Orlando,
The Tennessean,
15 Mar. 2024
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Inside the nave, choirs sang psalms, and the cathedral’s mighty organ thundered back to life in a triumphant interplay of melodies.—
Thomas Adamson and John Leicester,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Dec. 2024
Noun
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At best, Gidden’s singing and arrangement of a Monteverdi madrigal achieve remarkable eloquence.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Sep. 2021
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After this is a setting of a Whitman poem for chorus a cappella in the style of a sixteenth-century madrigal, followed by a section in which a line from Dante’s Inferno is sung by a vocal trio in the style of a medieval motet.—
Walter Simmons,
Harper's Magazine,
25 May 2021
Noun
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To go from historical epics like Braveheart to this feels kind of sad.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes,
24 Jan. 2025
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The Brutalist filmmaker Brady Corbet — who just won Best Director at the 2025 Golden Globes — was nominated in the same category for his acclaimed historical epic.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
23 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The little one was dressed in a grey onesie covered in brown footballs – an ode to her 29-year-old Kansas City Chiefs quarterback father.—
John Yoo and John Shu,
Newsweek,
23 Jan. 2025
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The evening opened with that country’s national anthem, an ode to their current corps of Aussies who’ve followed a pipeline of stars such as past Gaels Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova and Jock Landale, all of whom have their numbers retired in St. Mary’s rafters.—
Cam Inman,
The Mercury News,
23 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Pastoral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pastoral. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.
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