Churchgoers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who regularly attend worship services at a religious institution
2. People who participate in communal religious activities and services in a place of worship
3. Members of a congregation who gather for prayer, rituals, and spiritual support within a religious setting

Etymology: "Churchgoers" is the plural of "churchgoer," a compound of "church" and "goer," the latter simply meaning one who goes. The first half has the longer history. It descends from Greek "kuriakon," meaning "belonging to the lord," formed from "kurios," "lord." Early Christians in the Greek-speaking world used the adjective to describe a building or gathering belonging to the Lord, and it passed into Germanic languages as a borrowing. Old English "cirice" and Middle English "chirche" show the word gradually reshaping itself into the modern "church." The second element is far plainer. "Goer" is formed from the verb "go" with the agent suffix "-er," producing a straightforward name for someone who habitually goes somewhere. Combining it with "church" gives a term for people who regularly attend worship, and the plural simply applies that same description to a whole congregation.

Synonyms: parishioners, worshippers, congregants, attendees, faithful

Antonyms: nonbelievers, atheists, secularists, agnostics, non-attendees