great schism
noun
Simple meaning
The split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
graytskihzuhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɹeɪtskɪzəm
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
christianityhistorical
The split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054.
Christianityhistorical
The period from 1378 to 1417 during which there were two papacies in the Roman Catholic Church, one in Rome and one in Avignon
christianityhistorical
A split within the Roman Catholic Church that lasted from 1378 to 1417.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054.
Used this way, great schism is an older-sounding 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
- Dated
- Connotation
- Old-fashioned
- Usage feel
- Dated in modern speech
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
This meaning still makes sense to most readers, but it sounds a generation behind current usage.
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.