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Glite Dictionary
Sabbath school

Sabbath school

4.9
A class usually on Sunday where children learn about their religion
  • noun
  • /ˈsæbəθ skuːl/
translation icon : escuela del sábado
  • Every Sunday, she attended Sabbath school to learn more about her faith.

Examples

  • During those years that my wife and I attended the little mission church, I had a class in Sabbath school.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The potential for literacy training was ignored by Sabbath schools at first. Reading was considered to be purely a religious activity.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Turner's Rebellion in 1831 threw such a scare into the population that the District excluded Blacks from Sabbath schools after that.

    Academic text (1997)

  • In June 1867, that city's African Methodist Episcopal Church opened a normal and Sabbath school.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The children eagerly prepared their songs for the annual Sabbath school performance.

  • At Sabbath school, the teacher shared engaging stories from the Bible with the kids.

Synonyms

Sunday school
vsSabbath school
45 1.8

A class on Sundays at a church that teaches children about the Bible

focuses on general religious instruction mainly for children

Surface Forms

Sabbath school singular
Sabbath schools plural

Morphology

Sabbath + school

The meaning 'a class or meeting held on the Sabbath for religious instruction' is directly derivable from combining 'Sabbath' (a day of rest/worship) with 'school' (place for instruction). This is a straightforward compositional compound found across languages (e.g. Spanish 'escuela sabática'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Sabbath school comes from the words Sabbath ('day of rest') and school. People long ago met on that holy day to learn about their faith, so the phrase now means a religious class, usually held on Sunday.