sinecure

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈsaɪnɪkjʊr/ UK /ˈsɪnɪkjʊə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a position requiring little or no work but giving pay or status

The honorary post was a sinecure with a title and no duties.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a position requiring little... plumcushy jobperch appointment

Word family

Derived forms sinecurismsinecurist

Related forms cure secure curate

Etymology

From Medieval Latin (beneficium) sine cura ('benefice without cure of souls'), from Latin sine ('without') and cura ('care, cure').

sine cura Latin cura Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# sinecure

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsaɪnɪkjʊr/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɪnɪkjʊə/

## Meanings
1. a position requiring little or no work but giving pay or status

## Examples
- The honorary post was a sinecure with a title and no duties.

## Synonyms
- plum
- cushy job
- perch
- appointment

## Derived Forms
- sinecurism
- sinecurist

## Related Forms
- cure
- secure
- curate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sine cura
- Root: cura

## Etymology
From Medieval Latin (beneficium) sine cura ('benefice without cure of souls'), from Latin sine ('without') and cura ('care, cure').

## AI Etymology
Sinecure comes from Medieval Latin (beneficium) sine cura ('benefice without cure of souls'), from Latin sine ('without') and cura ('care, cure'). The historical chain includes Latin sine cura and Latin cura. Older glosses in the chain include "benefice without cure of souls", "without", and "care, cure", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, sinecure is best read as borrowing, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "a position requiring little or no work but giving pay or status". English derivatives include sinecurism and sinecurist; related forms include cure, secure, and curate. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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