mendicant Hear it!

mendicant Definition

men·di·cant (men′di kənt)

adjective

  1. asking for alms; begging
  2. of or characteristic of a beggar
  3. designating or of any of various religious orders whose members originally held no personal or community property, living mostly on alms

Etymology: L mendicans (gen. mendicantis), prp. of mendicare, to beg < mendicus, needy: for base see mendacious

noun

  1. a beggar; person who begs for alms
  2. a mendicant friar

mendicant Related Forms
men′·di·cancy noun or men·dic′·itymen dis′i tē
mendicant Synonyms

mendicant

n.

panhandler, vagabond, pauper; see beggar 1, 2, tramp 1.

mendicant Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • wander: Alan visited this wandering mendicant in his crude tent and presented him with a copy of the Bible.
  • become: They gave up their possessions, put on a saffron robe, shaved their head, and became mendicants or wandering monks.

Adjective modifier

  • religious: From the head of the Church down to the lowest, dirtiest religious mendicant, the Church was one mass of seething corruption.
  • itinerant: Concomitant with their function as places of worship, mosques served as social centers and as rest houses for travelers and itinerant mendicants.
  • simple: Each led the life of a simple mendicant, preaching that individuals should seek their own salvation.

Modifies a noun

  • friar: Mendicant friars went out into byways to conquer again the land for Christ.
  • order: Another important factor in the development of the universities was their adoption by the mendicant orders.
  • house: His next major research project was the history of the mendicant houses of medieval London which was completed in 2004.
  • priest: Mendicant Zen priests wearing large braided hats are taking shelter from a sudden shower.
  • lifestyle: During his lifetime Mahavira attracted many followers who abandoned the world for the mendicant lifestyle of the Jain monks.