communion

See also: Communion

English

Etymology

From Middle English communion, from Old French comunion, from Ecclesiastical Latin commūniō (“communion”), from Latin commūnis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmjuːnjən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mu‧nion

Noun

communion (countable and uncountable, plural communions)

1. A joining together of minds or spirits; a mental connection.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 159:

     It would be uplifting to think that the ziggurat was the first expression of Near Eastern civilization, for then one could speak about humanity's fascination with the heavens, of the human quest for communion with the infinite.

2. (Christianity) Holy Communion.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     It is with the day of her first communion that this narrative of mine begins.

3. (Roman Catholicism) A form of ecclesiastical unity between the Roman Church and another, so that the latter is considered part of the former.

Synonyms

• (Holy Communion): sacrament (Mormon)

Derived terms

• antecommunion
• communionable
• communional
• communion ecclesiology
• communionism
• communionist
• communionlike
• communion wafer
• Holy Communion
• intercommunion
• noncommunion
• open communion
• phatic communion
• precommunion
• Spiritual Communion
• still got one's communion money

 

Related terms

• communal
• communicate
• communion hall
• community
• union

 

Translations

a joining together of minds or spirits

• Aghwan: 𐕚𐔰𐔼𐕅𐕒𐕡 (sail'u)
• Bulgarian: единение (bg) n (edinenie)
• Danish: kommunion c, nadver c
• Dutch: communie (nl) f
• Esperanto: komuneco, komunio
• French: communion (fr) f
• Galician: comuñón f
• German: Kommunion (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: κοινωνία f (koinōnía)

• Italian: comunione (it) f
• Norman: communion f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kommunion m, nattverd m

  Nynorsk: kommunion m, nattverd m

• Polish: komunia (pl) f
• Portuguese: comunhão (pt) f
• Slovene: občestvo (sl) n
• Spanish: comunión (es) f
• Swedish: kommunion (sv) c, nattvard (sv) c
• Volapük: komuin (vo)

Holy Communion — see Holy Communion

form of ecclesiastical unity

• Spanish: comunión (es) f

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French comunion, borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin communiōnem, from Latin communis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.my.njɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

communion f (plural communions)

1. Communion; communion

Related terms

• commun
• communier

Further reading

• “communion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norman

Etymology

From Old French comunion, borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin communio, communionem, from Latin communis.

Noun

communion f (plural communions)

1. (Jersey) communion