gospel
Meanings
noun
- The first section of the Christian New Testament scripture, comprising the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, concerned with the birth, ministry, passion, and resurrection of Jesus.
- An account of those aspects of Jesus' life, generally written during the first several centuries of the Common Era.
- The teaching of Divine grace as distinguished from the Law or Divine commandments.
- A message expected to have positive reception or effect, one promoted as offering important (or even infallible) guiding principles.
- That which is absolutely authoritative (definitive).
- Gospel music.
verb
- To instruct in, declare, or communicate the gospel; to evangelise.
noun
- Alternative form of gospel.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English gospel, gospell, godspel, godspell, goddspell, from Old English godspell (“gospel”), corresponding to God + spell (“talk, tale, story”), literally “the message of God”, believed to be an alteration of earlier *gōdspell (literally “good news”), used to translate ecclesiastical Latin bona annūntiātiō, itself a translation of Ecclesiastical Latin ēvangelium / Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “evangel”, literally “good news”) (English evangel). Compare Old Saxon gōdspel and godspell (“gospel”), Old High German and Middle High German gotspel (“gospel”), Icelandic guðspjall (“gospel”), and the modern calque Malayalam സുവിശേഷം (suviśēṣaṁ).
Synonyms
Derived words
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