catholic

adjective

1. 1

   Universal; all-encompassing.

   The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all.

   Essentially, and in idea, the empire, in the minds of the Romans, was world-wide. This conception descended to the Church, which was ‘Catholic’ in spite of Buddhists, Confucians, and (later) Muhammadans.

   Newton Heath depot has lately been catholic in its choice of power for the 6.10 p.m. Manchester-Southport and the 9 p.m. back via Bolton.

   This semifossorial mammal tends to reside in areas with herbaceous cover, frequenting runways in the upper soil horizons where it feeds on a highly catholic diet of animal and plant materials […]

2. 2

   obsoleteCommon or prevalent; especially universally prevalent.

3. 3

   All-embracing.

   A catholic mind is a continual source of pleasure, a catholic taste continually enjoys it. Narrow-mindedness is a curse wherever it exists, whether in the religions, scientific, literary, or aesthetic sphere, or in the world of social intercourse; whether it dwindles religion into a dogma, or science into a formula, or literature into a style, or art into a school, or morality into a maxim.

   "I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."

   He was omnivorous in his appetite for knowledge, quite catholic in his range of interests […]

4. 4

   obsoleteUniversally applicable.

5. 5

   Of universal human interest or use.

   And this vast number is but a selection ; the editors chose only out of the mass before them what was most noteworthy and trustworthy, and what was of catholic rather than of national interest.

6. 6

   Variant of CatholicAlternative letter-case form of Catholic.

Forms

comparative

more catholic

superlative

most catholic