that which relates to affairs of the present world, in which sense the word stands opposed to spiritual, ecclesiastical: thus we say secular power, &c.

Secular, is more peculiarly used for a person who lives at liberty in the world, not shut up in a monastery, nor bound by vows, or subjected to the particular rules of any religious community; in which sense it stands opposed to regular. The Romish clergy are divided into secular and regular, of which the latter are bound by monastic rules, the former not.