Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Religious in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels religious as adjective. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913adjective
Religious

[OF. religius, religious, F. religieux, from L. religiosus. See Religion.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordreligious
Part of speechadjective
Historical etymology[OF. religius, religious, F. religieux, from L. religiosus. See Religion.]
Selected historical definitionOf or pertaining to religion; concerned with religion; teaching, or setting forth, religion; set apart to religion; as, a religious society; a religious sect; a religious place; religious subjects, books, teachers, houses, wars.
Signed record IDwebster1913-religious-adjective-9f9d9803cfc9
Source locatorCIDE.R, paragraph 4636; Gutenberg eBook 667
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 667Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "religious" is labeled adjective. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OF. religius, religious, F. religieux, from L. religiosus. See Religion.]" The selected historical definition says: "Of or pertaining to religion; concerned with religion; teaching, or setting forth, religion; set apart to religion; as, a religious society; a religious sect; a religious place; religious subjects, books, teachers, houses, wars."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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