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''synod'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250804005922-00-⌔

synod - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

synod (plural synods)

  • (Christianity) An ecclesiastic council or meeting to consult on church matters.
    • ✤ Addressing a number of previously taboo topics, this synod could result in several liberalizing reforms, though there is no guarantee that it will produce anything at all.1
  • (Christianity) An administrative division of churches, either the entire denomination, as in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, or a mid-level division (middle judicatory, district) as in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
  • An assembly or council having civil authority (formal); a legislative body.
    • ✤ It hath in solemn synods been decreed.2
    • ✤ A third part of the Gods, in synod met/Their deities to assert; who, while they feel/Vigour divine within them, can allow/Omnipotence to none.3
    • ✤ Parent of Gods and Men, propitious Jove!/And you bright ſynod of the Pow’rs above;/On this my ſon your gracious gifts beſtow;/Grant him to live, and great in arms to grow, […]4
  • (astronomy) A conjunction of two or more of the heavenly bodies.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σύνοδος (súnodos, “assembly, meeting”) – from σύν (sún, “with”) (English syn-) + ὁδός (hodós, “way, path”).

Compare also with the term סַנְהֶדְרִין (“sanhedrin”) common throughout Hebrew Talmudic literature.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: sĭn’əd, IPA: /ˈsɪn.əd/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 2023 October 2, Jason Horowitz, Elisabetta Povoledo, “What Is a Synod in the Catholic Church? And Why Does This One Matter?”, in The New York Times ‎, →ISSN: ↩

  2. c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]: ↩

  3. 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a] nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a] nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC: ↩

  4. a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Last Parting of Hector and Andromache. From the Sixth Book of the Iliad.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 455: ↩

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