pastoralEnglishOxford American Thesauruspastoral adjective 1 a pastoral scene: rural, country, countryside, countrified, outdoor, rustic, agricultural, agrarian, provincial, grassy, green, verdant; simple, innocent, idyllic, unspoiled; literary bucolic, sylvan, Arcadian; rare exurban, georgic. ▷antonyms urban. 2 his pastoral duties: priestly, clerical, ecclesiastical, ministerial; rare hieratic, sacerdotal, vicarial, parsonical, rectorial, churchly, prelatic, apostolic.