# conventicle
## English
### Etymology

From Late Middle English conventicle, conventicule (“a gathering, meeting (especially a secret or unlawful one); (derogatory) a church”), from Latin conventiculum (“assembly; meeting (or the place involved); association”), from conventus (“assembled, convened”) + -culum (suffix forming noun diminutives), perfect passive participle of conveniō (“to assemble, convene, meet together”), from con- (“together, with”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“along, at, next to, with”)) + veniō (“to approach, come”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”) + *-yéti (suffix forming intransitive, imperfective verbs)).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /kənˈvɛntɪk(ə)l/
* (General American) IPA: /kənˈvɛn(t)ək(ə)l/
* Hyphenation: con‧ven‧ti‧cle

### Noun

conventicle (plural conventicles)
* A secret, unauthorized or illegal religious meeting.
** 1581, D. Fulke [i.e., William Fulke], A Briefe Confutation, of a Popish Discourse: […], London: […] [Thomas Dawson] for George Byshop, →OCLC, folio 12, recto and verso:[I]f when Luther firſt began to teach new doctrine, the catholiks at that time had not vouchſafed to giue him the hering, but had auoided his prechings & preuy couenticles, ther had not bin now in the worlde, either Lutheran, Swinglian, Calueniſt, Puritan, Anabaptiſt, Trinetarie, Family of loue, Adamite, or the lyke: whereof now there are ſo many thouſands abroad, al ſpringing of that firſt ſecte, and troubling at this day the whole worlde, […]
** 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 37:If publique Aſſemblies of Divines cannot agree upon a right vvay, private Conventicles of illeterate men, vvill ſoon finde a vvrong. Bivious demurres breed devious reſolutions. Paſſengers to heaven are in haſte, and vvill vvalk one vvay or other.
** 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 168:In the meantime, Lord Avonleigh found a wonderful resource in being loyal; he attended county meetings, denounced the Puritans, discouraged conventicles, discountenanced long graces or long sermons, and was seized with a sudden veneration for the church as established by law, which led to fines and imprisonment on all absentees from worship as ordained by law.
* The place where such a meeting is held.
* A Quaker meetinghouse.

#### Derived terms

* conventicler

#### Translations
### Verb

conventicle (third-person singular simple present conventicles, present participle conventicling, simple past and past participle conventicled)
* To hold a secret, unauthorized or illegal religious meeting.

### References

* ↑ “conventicle, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 October 2017.
* ↑ “conventicle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “conventicle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

## Middle English
### Etymology

From Old French [Term?] or Latin conventus (“assembled, convened”) + -culum (suffix forming noun diminutives). The former is the perfect passive participle of conveniō (“to assemble, convene, meet together”), from con- (“together, with”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“along, at, next to, with”)) + veniō (“to approach, come”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”) + *-yéti (suffix forming intransitive, imperfective verbs)). By surface analysis, covent +‎ -icle.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɔnˈvɛn.ti.kl(ə)/

### Noun

conventicle (plural conventicles)
* an assembly, a gathering, a meeting, especially one that is secret or unlawful
* (derogatory) a church

#### Alternative forms

* conventicule

#### Derived terms

* English: conventicle

### References

* ↑ “conventicle, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 October 2017.