conventicle

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conventicle

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From Late Middle English conventicle, conventicule (“a gathering, meeting (especially a secret or unlawful one); (derogatory) a church”),^[1] from Latin conventiculum (“assembly; meeting (or the place involved); association”),^[2] from conventus (“assembled, convened”) + -culum (suffix forming noun diminutives), perfect passive participle of conveniō (“to assemble, convene, meet together”), from con- (“together, with”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“along, at, next to, with”)) + veniō (“to approach, come”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”) + *-yéti (suffix forming intransitive, imperfective verbs)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈvɛntɪk(ə)l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈvɛn(t)ək(ə)l/
• Hyphenation: con‧ven‧ti‧cle

conventicle (plural conventicles)

1. A secret, unauthorized or illegal religious meeting.
   • 1581, D. Fulke [i.e., William Fulke], A Briefe Confutation, of a Popish Discourse: , London: for George Byshop, →OCLC, folio 12, recto and verso:

     [I]f when Luther firſt began to teach new doctrine, the catholiks at that time had not vouchſafed to giue him the hering, but had auoided his prechings & preuy couenticles, ther had not bin now in the worlde, either Lutheran, Swinglian, Calueniſt, Puritan, Anabaptiſt, Trinetarie, Family of loue, Adamite, or the lyke: whereof now there are ſo many thouſands abroad, al ſpringing of that firſt ſecte, and troubling at this day the whole worlde, […]

   • 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. , London: J D & R I for Stephen Bowtell, , →OCLC, page 37:

     If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Francesca Carrara. , volume III, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 168:

     In the meantime, Lord Avonleigh found a wonderful resource in being loyal; he attended county meetings, denounced the Puritans, discouraged conventicles, discountenanced long graces or long sermons, and was seized with a sudden veneration for the church as established by law, which led to fines and imprisonment on all absentees from worship as ordained by law.

2. The place where such a meeting is held.
3. A Quaker meetinghouse.

conventicle (third-person singular simple present conventicles, present participle conventicling, simple past and past participle conventicled)

1. To hold a secret, unauthorized or illegal religious meeting.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “conventicle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

From Old French ^[1] or Latin conventus (“assembled, convened”) + -culum (suffix forming noun diminutives). The former is the perfect passive participle of conveniō (“to assemble, convene, meet together”), from con- (“together, with”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“along, at, next to, with”)) + veniō (“to approach, come”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”) + *-yéti (suffix forming intransitive, imperfective verbs)). By surface analysis, covent +‎ -icle.

• IPA^(key): /kɔnˈvɛn.ti.kl(ə)/

conventicle (plural conventicles)

1. an assembly, a gathering, a meeting, especially one that is secret or unlawful
2. (derogatory) a church

• conventicule

• English: conventicle