counter reformation
noun
Simple meaning
The reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Reformation reaffirming the veneration of saints and the authority of the Pope.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kownterruhfermayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkaʊntɚɹɛfɚˈmeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Reformation reaffirming the veneration of saints and the authority of the Pope (to which Protestants objected); many leaders were Jesuits
A period of Roman Catholic revival that aimed to combat the Reformation.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Reformation reaffirming the veneration of saints and the authority of the Pope (to which Protestants objected); many leaders were Jesuits
Used this way, counter reformation is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.