Pastoral1. (a.) Pertaining to shepherds; relating to rural life and scenes; as, a pastoral life.
2. (a.) Relating to the care of souls, or to the pastor of a church; as, pastoral duties; a pastoral letter.
3. (n.) A poem describing the life and manners of shepherds; a poem in which the speakers assume the character of shepherds; a bucolic.
4. (n.) A cantata relating to rural life; a composition for instruments characterized by simplicity and sweetness; a lyrical composition the subject of which is taken from rural life.
5. (n.) A letter of a pastor to his charge; specifically, a letter addressed by a bishop to his diocese; also (Prot. Epis. Ch.), a letter of the House of Bishops, to be read in each parish.
Thesaurus Entries
Alcaic, Anacreontic, Arcadian, Castalian, Edenic, English sonnet, Grand Guignol, Homeric, Horatian ode, Hudibrastic, Italian sonnet, Passion play, Petrarchan sonnet, Pierian, Pindaric, Pindaric ode, Sapphic ode, Shakespearean sonnet, Theocritean, Tom show, abbatial, abbatical, agrarian, agrestic, agricultural, airscape, alba, anacreontic, antimasque, arcadian, archiepiscopal, at peace, audience success, balada, ballad, ballade, ballet, bardic, bloodless, bomb, broadcast drama, bucolic, burlesque show, calm, campestral, canonical, canso, capitular, capitulary, chanson, charade, churchly, cityscape, clerical, clerihew, cliff hanger, closet drama, cloudscape, comedy drama, concordant, countrified, country, critical success, daytime serial, dialogue, didactic, diorama, dirge, dithyramb, dithyrambic, documentary drama, drama, dramalogue, dramatic, dramatic play, dramatic series, duodrama, duologue, ecclesiastic, ecclesiastical, eclogic, eclogue, elegiac, elegy, epic, epic theater, epigram, episcopal, episcopalian, epithalamium, epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, evangelistic, experimental theater, exterior, extravaganza, failure, farm, farming, farmscape, flop, gasser, genuine, georgic, ghazel, giveaway, haiku, halcyon, happening, harmonious, heroic, hit, hit show, homespun, humble, idyll, idyllic, improvisational drama, inartificial, innocent, interior, jingle, landscape, legitimate drama, limerick, lowland, lyric, madrigal, masque, melodrama, ministerial, minstrel show, miracle, miracle play, mock-heroic, monodrama, monody, monologue, morality, morality play, music drama, musical revue, mystery, mystery play, narrative, narrative poem, native, natural, naturelike, nursery rhyme, ode, opera, orderly, outland, pacific, pageant, palinode, panel show, pantomime, pastoral drama, pastoral elegy, pastorela, pastourelle, peaceable, peaceful, peacetime, piece, piping, placid, play, playlet, poem, poetic, poetico-mystical, poetico-mythological, poetico-philosophic, poetlike, prelatial, prelatic, priest-ridden, priestish, priestly, problem play, prothalamium, provincial, psychodrama, quiet, quiz show, rabbinic, radio drama, restful, review, revue, rhapsodic, rhyme, riverscape, rondeau, rondel, roundel, roundelay, runic, rural, rustic, sacerdotal, sapphic, satire, scape, scene, seapiece, seascape, sensational play, serene, serial, sestina, show, simple, sitcom, situation comedy, skaldic, sketch, skit, skyscape, sloka, snowscape, soap, soap opera, sociodrama, soft, song, sonnet, sonnet sequence, spectacle, stage play, stage show, straight drama, success, suspense drama, tableau, tableau vivant, talk show, tanka, teleplay, television drama, television play, tenso, tenzone, theater of cruelty, threnody, total theater, townscape, tranquil, triolet