conventicle
noun
con·ven·ti·cle kən-ˈven-ti-kəl 
1
: assembly, meeting
2
: an assembly of an irregular or unlawful character
3
: an assembly for religious worship
especially : a secret meeting for worship not sanctioned by law
4
: meetinghouse
conventicler
kən-ˈven-ti-k(ə-)lər
noun 
Did you know?
Conventicle comes to us from Latin conventiculum and ultimately from convenire, meaning "to assemble." Conventiculum means "place of assembly" (it was applied in particular to Roman Christian meetinghouses) or simply "assembly." The English "conventicle" also originally meant "assembly." It then developed an application to illegal meetings, which, in turn, led to the arrival of a sense describing secret meetings for worship in a religion proscribed by law. And finally, "conventicle" developed a sense of "meetinghouse," echoing the earlier use of "conventiculum."
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Latin conventiculum, diminutive of conventus assembly
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
conventicle
noun
as in meetinghouse
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- meetinghouse
- house
- hall
- headquarters
- camp
- den
- hangout
- club
- haunt
- lodge
- hideout
- lair
- hideaway
- clubhouse
- send (out)
- send (someone) sprawling
- send a chill down someone's spine
- send a chill up someone's spine
- send a chill/shiver up/down someone's spine
- send a shiver down someone's spine
- send a shiver up someone's spine
- send away
- send away for
- send away for (something)
- send away for something
- send away to (someone) for (something)
- send away to for
- send away to for something
- send away to someone for
- send away to someone for something
- send back
- send chills up and down someone's spine
- send chills up someone's spine
- send down
- send for
- send forth
- send in
- send off for
- send off for (something)