Congregation

How to spell congregation

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce congregation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does congregation mean?

1. nounA group of people gathered together, especially an assembly of worshippers at a religious service.

Congregation in a sentence

• The priest welcomed the congregation at the start of the morning service.

• The whole congregation rose to sing the final hymn.

Where does congregation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb congregare, which meant 'to gather into a flock' or 'to herd together'. It was built from the prefix con- meaning 'together' and the noun grex, gregis, meaning a 'flock' or 'herd' of animals. From the act of bringing animals together, the sense broadened to the gathering of people, and the Latin noun congregatio described an assembling or uniting of a group. English took the word through Old French in the 1300s, and it settled firmly into religious use to mean the body of worshippers gathered in a church. The same grex root survives in relatives such as 'gregarious' (fond of company) and 'segregate' (to set apart from the flock), and remembering that flock idea, greg, helps pin down the tricky middle of the spelling.

How the word is built

• con- (together)
• greg (flock, herd)
• -ation (noun of action/state)