communion

See also: Communion

English

Etymology

From Middle English comunioun, communyoun, from Anglo-Norman comunion or Middle French communion, from Ecclesiastical Latin commūniō (“communion”), from Latin commūnis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmjuːnjən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mu‧nion

Noun

communion (countable and uncountable, plural communions)

1. A joining together of minds or spirits; a mental connection.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 159:

     It would be uplifting to think that the ziggurat was the first expression of Near Eastern civilization, for then one could speak about humanity's fascination with the heavens, of the human quest for communion with the infinite.

2. (Christianity) Holy Communion; the Eucharist.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     It is with the day of her first communion that this narrative of mine begins.

3. (Christianity) Ecclesiastical interrecognition of belonging to the true Church.
   1. (Roman Catholicism) A form of ecclesiastical unity between the Roman Catholic Church and another, so that the latter is considered part of the former.
   2. A denomination; a high-level organised subgrouping of Christianity (now especially in Anglican Communion)

Synonyms

• (Holy Communion): sacrament (Mormon)

Derived terms

• Anglican Communion
• antecommunion
• communionable
• communional
• communion cloth
• communion ecclesiology
• communion hall
• communionism
• communionist
• communionlike
• communion of saints
• communion wafer
• Holy Communion
• intercommunion
• noncommunion
• open communion
• phatic communion
• precommunion
• spiritual communion
• still got one's communion money
• World Communion Sunday

Related terms

• common
• communal
• communicate
• community

Translations

a joining together of minds or spirits

• Aghwan: 𐕚𐔰𐔼𐕅𐕒𐕡 (sail'u)
• Bulgarian: единение (bg) n (edinenie)
• Danish: kommunion c, nadver c
• Dutch: communie (nl) f
• Esperanto: komuneco, komunio
• French: communion (fr) f
• Galician: comuñón f
• German: Kommunion (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: κοινωνία f (koinōnía)

• Italian: comunione (it) f
• Norman: communion f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kommunion m, nattverd m

  Nynorsk: kommunion m, nattverd m

• Polish: komunia (pl) f
• Portuguese: comunhão (pt) f
• Slovene: občestvo (sl) n
• Spanish: comunión (es) f
• Swedish: kommunion (sv) c, nattvard (sv) c
• Volapük: komuin (vo)

Holy Communion — see Holy Communion

ecclesiastical interrecognition

• Middle English: comunioun
• Spanish: comunión (es) f

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French comunion, borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin communiōnem, from Latin communis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.my.njɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

communion f (plural communions)

1. Communion; communion

Related terms

• commun
• communier

Further reading

• “communion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norman

Etymology

From Old French comunion, borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin communio, communionem, from Latin communis.

Noun

communion f (plural communions)

1. (Jersey) communion