multireligious

multireligious — adjective

  • multireligiouspositive
  • more multireligiouscomparative
  • most multireligioussuperlative

1. having, mixing, or open to people who follow many separate religions, rather tha

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

having, mixing, or open to people who follow many separate religions, rather than just one.

Example

Singapore is a multireligious country where Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu festivals are all public holidays.

multireligious + country, naming several faiths

Ilan helped plan a multireligious memorial so that every family at the school could pray in its own way.

multireligious + event noun (memorial)

Common collocations
  • multireligious society
  • multireligious family
  • multireligious prayer room
  • multireligious community
Synonyms
  • interfaith

    stresses active cooperation between faiths, e.g. a shared service

  • multifaith

    near-synonym; slightly more common in British use

  • pluralistic

    wider — covers many beliefs and views, not only religion

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

multireligious + noun

Usage Note

Almost always used before a noun (a multireligious city, school, family), describing a place, group, or event that brings several faiths together. Rarely used after 'be'.

Common Mistakes

Adaeze is multireligious.
Adaeze grew up in a multireligious family.
describe the group or place, not one believer's personal faith.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

These words all point to more than one religion being present, but they differ in focus. 'Multireligious' simply describes a fact: several faiths exist within one place, group, or event, with no claim about how they get along — a multireligious city just has many religions in it. 'Interfaith' is more active and warm: it names cooperation between faiths, as in an interfaith service where a rabbi and an imam speak together. 'Multifaith' is a close cousin of 'multireligious' and is more common in British writing. 'Pluralistic' is the widest of the four; it covers many different beliefs, opinions, and ways of life, not religion alone, so a pluralistic society welcomes political and cultural difference too. Choose 'multireligious' to state the mix, 'interfaith' to stress the dialogue.

multireligious ↗interfaith ↗multifaithpluralistic

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • multireligious society
  • multireligious dialogue
  • multireligious prayer room

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Built from the prefix 'multi-', meaning 'many', joined to 'religious'. 'Multi-' comes from Latin 'multus' ('much, many') and has long been used in English to coin words for several of something. 'Religious' traces back through French to Latin 'religiosus', from 'religio' ('respect for what is sacred'). The combined word is modern, rising with talk of mixed-faith societies in the twentieth century.