noun
- secret or unauthorized religious meetings, especially those held by Protestant dissenters in 17th-century England
Usage: historical; often plural
Examples
- The Puritan conventicles were banned by the government but continued in secret.
- Many Nonconformists attended conventicles in private homes to avoid persecution.
- The Act of 1664 made conventicles illegal and punishable by law.
- Religious dissenters risked imprisonment for participating in conventicles.
- These underground conventicles became centers of resistance to the established church.
- The conventicles were often held in barns or remote locations to avoid detection.