Not specifically religious; lay or civil, as opposed to clerical.
2
Temporal; worldly, or otherwise not based on something timeless.
3
Christianity Not bound by the vows of a religious order.
Near-synonym: nonmonastic
secular clergy in Catholicism
4
Happening once in an age or century.
Near-synonyms: centurial, centennial
The secular games of ancient Rome were held to mark the end of a saeculum and the beginning of the next.
5
Continuing over a long period of time.
The long-term growth in population and income accounts for most secular trends in economic phenomena.
on a secular basis
2 more examples
In this event, the s#92;phi(k) curve in Fig. 15.5 will be subject to a secular upward shift, resulting in successively higher intersections with the #92;lambdak ray and also in larger values of #92;bark.2005, Alpha Chiang, Kevin Wainwright, Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill International, page 501:
The skewed distribution of productivity gains is thus less a new phenomenon than a secular trend.2006, “Economics focus: Dividing the pie”, in The Economist:
The long reaches that were like one and the same reach, monotonous bends that were exactly alike, slipped past the steamer with their multitude of secular trees looking patiently after this grimy fragment of another world, the forerunner of change, of conquest, of trade, of massacres, of blessings.1899 April, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MII, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part III (Conclusion):
7
Astrophysics, Geography, Geology, Natural sciences Relating to long-term non-periodic irregularities, especially in planetary motion or magnetic field.
Laplace (1749–1827) "saved the world" by using probability theory to estimate the parameters accurately enough to show that the drift of Jupiter was not secular after all; the observations at hand had covered only a fraction of a cycle of an oscillation with a period of about 880 years.2003, E. T. Jaynes, Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, Cambridge University Press, pages 234–235:
8
Unperturbed over time.
The secular A and nonsecular B parts of hyperfine interaction for any particular frequencies ν_α and ν_β are derived from eqn.(21) by ...2000, S. A. Dikanov, Two-dimensional ESEEM Spectroscopy, in New Advances in Analytical Chemistry (Atta-ur-Rahman, ed.), page 539
Etymology From Middle English seculer, from Old French seculer, from Latin saeculāris (“of the age”), from saeculum.
1
A secular ecclesiastic, or one not bound by monastic rules.
On further examination, I found the clergy, in general, persons of moderate minds and decorous manners : I include the seculars, and the regulars of both sexes1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
2
A church official whose functions are confined to the vocal department of the choir.