congregation

The word “congregation” means the group of people gathered for worship at a church, synagogue, mosque, or other place of worship. In plain terms, the people who gather to worship together — or, more loosely, any crowd.

“Congregation” is pronounced kongg-rih-GAY-shuhn (/ˌkɑŋɡɹəˈɡeɪʃən/ in IPA).

Here is “congregation” used in a sentence: “The congregation stood to sing the closing hymn.”

“Congregation” is a noun.

The word “congregation” dates back to around 1500 and comes from Latin. From Latin congregatio, from congregare ("to gather into a flock"); adopted by 16th-century Bible translator William Tyndale to render the Greek word for a "gathering of the faithful".

“Congregation” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Congregation” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the group of people gathered for worship at a church, synagogue, mosque, or other place of worship.

A congregation specifically refers to the group of people gathered for worship at a church, synagogue, mosque, or other place of worship, while community is a broader term for any group sharing a location, interest, or identity. Every congregation is a kind of community, but not every community is a congregation.

Yes, congregation can also describe any large gathering of people or things, not only a group assembled for worship. This broader sense is less common but still standard usage.

No, a congregation is the specific group of worshippers who gather at a particular place of worship, while a denomination is a larger organised branch of a religion that may include many separate congregations. A single denomination can encompass thousands of individual congregations.