sacramental

English

Etymology

From Old French sacramental, from Ecclesiastical Latin sacrāmentālis.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Adjective

sacramental (comparative more sacramental, superlative most sacramental)

1. Used in, or relating to, a sacrament.

   The altar boys were sacked after they were caught sampling the sacramental wine instead of just passing it to the priest before communion.

Derived terms

• sacramental bread

Translations

used in, or relating to, a sacrament

• Catalan: sacramental
• Polish: sakramentalny (pl)
• Spanish: sacramental

Noun

sacramental (plural sacramentals)

1. (Christianity, chiefly Roman Catholicism) An object (such as holy water or a crucifix) or an action (such as making the sign of the cross) which is regarded as encouraging devotion and thus spiritually aiding the person who uses it.
   • 1997, James Monti, The king's good servant but God's first:

     But under the twofold pressure of solafideism’s rejection of "good works" for the sake of merit and sola scriptura’s denial of anything not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, sacramentals such as images, relics, blessings, and pilgrimages became the objects of the dissenters' most bitter condemnation and scorn.

   • 2000, Michael Theisen, Exploring Catholicism, page 17:

     The activities in this strategy immerse the young people in the many sacramentals that are part of the daily, weekly, and seasonal Catholic individual and communal religious expressions.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:sacramental.

Quotations

• 1898, Hermann Rolfus, Illustrated explanation of the holy sacraments, page 294:

  The Sacramentals.
  Besides the holy sacraments there are things which the Church blesses in order that by the pious use of them the Christian may obtain from God temporal benefits and spiritual health. Now as these things bear a certain resemblance to the sacraments, they are called sacramentals.

Translations

an object or action which spiritually aids its faithful users

• Esperanto: sakramentalo
• French: sacramental (fr)
• German: Sakramentale (de)
• Korean: 준성사 (junseongsa)
• Polish: sakramentalia (pl) nvir
• Spanish: sacramental m
• Vietnamese: á bí tích (vi)

French

Noun

sacramental m (plural sacramentaux)

1. sacramental

Further reading

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sacramental, from Latin sacramentalis. By surface analysis, sacrament +‎ -al.

Adjective

sacramental m or n (feminine singular sacramentală, masculine plural sacramentali, feminine and neuter plural sacramentale)

1. sacramental

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	sacramental		sacramentală		sacramentali	sacramentale
	definite	sacramentalul		sacramentala		sacramentalii	sacramentalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	sacramental		sacramentale		sacramentali	sacramentale
	definite	sacramentalului		sacramentalei		sacramentalilor	sacramentalelor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin sacrāmentālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sakɾamenˈtal/ [sa.kɾa.mẽn̪ˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: sa‧cra‧men‧tal

Adjective

sacramental m or f (masculine and feminine plural sacramentales)

1. sacramental

Derived terms

• sacramentalmente

Noun

sacramental m (plural sacramentales)

1. sacramental

Related terms

• sacramento

Further reading

• “sacramental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10