pentecostal

1 7.9

Relating to the Christian festival fifty days after Easter when the Holy Spirit came

adjective
/ˌpɛntɪˈkɔstəl/

: pentecostal

Lecture: Pfingstwunder (Pentecostal Miracle)

Examples

During the pentecostal festival, many people gathered to experience powerful spiritual events.
The church held a pentecostal service to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit.
The community organized a pentecostal prayer meeting, reflecting on the significance of the holy day.

Compounds

Pentecostal religion

1 7.0

A Christian group that holds lively worship and believes in personal experiences of the Holy Spirit like speaking in tongues

Surface Forms

pentecostal positive

Morphology

pentecostal = Pentecost (transparent) = Pentecost + al

The adjective is formed regularly from the festival name 'Pentecost' with the suffix '-al', meaning 'relating to'.

Etymology

Pentecostal comes from the Greek word pentekostos, meaning 'fiftieth' and related to penta ('five'), so think 'fifty'. Pentecost is the church festival fifty days after Easter when Christians say the Holy Spirit came, so pentecostal means 'of or about that festival'.