Pastoral \Pas"tor*al\, a. [L. pastoralis: cf. F. pastoral. See
   Pastor.]
   1. Of or pertaining to shepherds; hence, relating to rural
      life and scenes; as, a pastoral life.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a
      church; as, pastoral duties; a pastoral letter.
      [1913 Webster]

   Pastoral staff (Eccl.), a staff, usually of the form of a
      shepherd's crook, borne as an official emblem by a bishop,
      abbot, abbess, or other prelate privileged to carry it.
      See Crook, and Crosier.

   Pastoral Theology, that part of theology which treats of
      the duties of pastors.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	Pastoral \Pas"tor*al\, n.
   1. A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a
      poem in which the speakers assume the character of
      shepherds; an idyl; a bucolic.
      [1913 Webster]

            A pastoral is a poem in which any action or passion
            is represented by its effects on a country life.
                                                  --Rambler.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Mus.) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for
      instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a
      lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from
      rural life. --Moore (Encyc. of Music).
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Eccl.) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically,
      a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese; also (Prot.
      Epis. Ch.), a letter of the House of Bishops, to be read
      in each parish.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	pastoral
     adj 1: of or relating to a pastor; "pastoral work"; "a pastoral
            letter"
     2: relating to shepherds or herdsmen or devoted to raising
        sheep or cattle; "pastoral seminomadic people"; "pastoral
        land"; "a pastoral economy" [syn: bucolic]
     3: used of idealized country life; "a country life of arcadian
        contentment"; "a pleasant bucolic scene"; "charming in its
        pastoral setting"; "rustic tranquility" [syn: arcadian,
        bucolic, rustic]
     4: suggestive of an idyll; charmingly simple and serene; "his
        idyllic life in Tahiti"; "the pastoral legends of
        America's Golden Age" [syn: idyllic]
     n 1: a musical composition that evokes rural life [syn: pastorale,
           idyll]
     2: a letter from a pastor to the congregation
     3: a literary work idealizing the rural life (especially the
        life of shepherds)

	

	286 Moby Thesaurus words for "pastoral":
   Alcaic, Anacreontic, Arcadian, Castalian, Edenic, English sonnet,
   Grand Guignol, Homeric, Horatian ode, Hudibrastic, Italian sonnet,
   Passion play, Petrarchan sonnet, Pierian, Pindaric, Pindaric ode,
   Sapphic ode, Shakespearean sonnet, Theocritean, Tom show, abbatial,
   abbatical, agrarian, agrestic, agricultural, airscape, alba,
   anacreontic, antimasque, arcadian, archiepiscopal, at peace,
   audience success, balada, ballad, ballade, ballet, bardic,
   bloodless, bomb, broadcast drama, bucolic, burlesque show, calm,
   campestral, canonical, canso, capitular, capitulary, chanson,
   charade, churchly, cityscape, clerical, clerihew, cliff hanger,
   closet drama, cloudscape, comedy drama, concordant, countrified,
   country, critical success, daytime serial, dialogue, didactic,
   diorama, dirge, dithyramb, dithyrambic, documentary drama, drama,
   dramalogue, dramatic, dramatic play, dramatic series, duodrama,
   duologue, ecclesiastic, ecclesiastical, eclogic, eclogue, elegiac,
   elegy, epic, epic theater, epigram, episcopal, episcopalian,
   epithalamium, epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, evangelistic,
   experimental theater, exterior, extravaganza, failure, farm,
   farming, farmscape, flop, gasser, genuine, georgic, ghazel,
   giveaway, haiku, halcyon, happening, harmonious, heroic, hit,
   hit show, homespun, humble, idyll, idyllic, improvisational drama,
   inartificial, innocent, interior, jingle, landscape,
   legitimate drama, limerick, lowland, lyric, madrigal, masque,
   melodrama, ministerial, minstrel show, miracle, miracle play,
   mock-heroic, monodrama, monody, monologue, morality, morality play,
   music drama, musical revue, mystery, mystery play, narrative,
   narrative poem, native, natural, naturelike, nursery rhyme, ode,
   opera, orderly, outland, pacific, pageant, palinode, panel show,
   pantomime, pastoral drama, pastoral elegy, pastorela, pastourelle,
   peaceable, peaceful, peacetime, piece, piping, placid, play,
   playlet, poem, poetic, poetico-mystical, poetico-mythological,
   poetico-philosophic, poetlike, prelatial, prelatic, priest-ridden,
   priestish, priestly, problem play, prothalamium, provincial,
   psychodrama, quiet, quiz show, rabbinic, radio drama, restful,
   review, revue, rhapsodic, rhyme, riverscape, rondeau, rondel,
   roundel, roundelay, runic, rural, rustic, sacerdotal, sapphic,
   satire, scape, scene, seapiece, seascape, sensational play, serene,
   serial, sestina, show, simple, sitcom, situation comedy, skaldic,
   sketch, skit, skyscape, sloka, snowscape, soap, soap opera,
   sociodrama, soft, song, sonnet, sonnet sequence, spectacle,
   stage play, stage show, straight drama, success, suspense drama,
   tableau, tableau vivant, talk show, tanka, teleplay,
   television drama, television play, tenso, tenzone,
   theater of cruelty, threnody, total theater, townscape, tranquil,
   triolet, troubadour poem, ultramontane, unadorned, unaffected,
   unartificial, unassuming, uncomplicated, undesigning, undisguising,
   undissembling, undissimulating, unembellished, unfeigning,
   unpretending, unpretentious, unspoiled, untroubled, unvarnished,
   upland, variety show, vaudeville, vaudeville show, vehicle, verse,
   verselet, versicle, view, villanelle, virelay, waterscape,
   word-of-mouth success, work

	

Search Dictionary :

Search   in   Tutorials Encyclopedia Dictionary Directory

Search for Pastoral in Tutorials

Search for Pastoral in Encyclopedia

Search for Pastoral in Dictionary

Search for Pastoral in Open Directory

Search for Pastoral in Store

Search for Pastoral in PriceGig

Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web. Submit a Site - Open Directory Project - Become an Editor

Powered by dict.org