adj

parochial

puh-ROH-keerl

adj

Relating to a parish, the local area a church serves.

"The children attended the parochial school run by the church."

Narrow-minded or overly focused on local matters, ignoring the wider picture.

"His parochial view of politics never looked beyond his own town."

"Critics called the policy parochial, since it ignored how other countries were handling the crisis."

How to Use Parochial

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishEither about a parish, or (more commonly today) narrow and small-minded in outlook.

Common mistake

The negative sense ("narrow-minded") is far more common in everyday speech than the literal "relating to a parish" sense.

Common pairings

parochial school a parochial attitude parochial concerns

more parochial comparative, parochials plural, most parochial superlative

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The children attended the _____ school run by the church.

From Late Latin parochialis, related to a church district, ultimately from Greek paroikia, "community, diocese."

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