priest Hear it!

priest Definition

priest (prēst)

noun

  1. a person whose function is to make sacrificial offerings and perform other religious rites as an intermediary between deity and worshipers
    1. in the early Christian church, a presbyter, or elder
    2. in hierarchical Christian churches, a clergyman ranking next below a bishop and authorized to administer the sacraments
  3. any clergyman

Etymology: ME prest < OE preost (? with -o- by assoc. with profost, provost) < LL(Ec) presbyter, an elder < Gr presbyteros, elder, compar. of presbys, old, old man (in LGr(Ec), an elder) < IE *pres-, ahead < base *per- (see per, pre-) + *gwou-, cow, ox (hence, orig., lead-ox)

priest Related Forms

priest′·hood′ noun

priest Synonyms

priest

n.

clergyman, cleric, minister, man of the cloth, reverend. see also minister 1.

Names for priests in various sects include: father, father confessor, spiritual father, priest-vicar, high priest, minor canon, pontiff, vicar, care of souls, clergyman, hieromonk, clergywoman, woman of the cloth, man of the cloth, minister, parson, pastor, chaplain, bishop, rector, preacher, presbyter, elder; kohen (Hebrew), rabbi; brahman, guru; lama, monk, friar;

priest Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • ordain: Christopher Angel was ordained priest by Bishop Roche in St Joseph's Catholic Church, Bradford on Saturday 17 June.
  • officiate: In verses 1-3 the officiating priests ' appeal to Israel to repent, and in verses 4-7 the people respond.
  • defrock: With three miles to go, leader Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil was bundled into the crowd by the defrocked priest.
  • appoint: Fr Oliver Heaney, who had been Assistant Priest from 1968 to 1975, was appointed parish priest of Epsom from 1981 to 1990.
  • bless: In verses 1-2 the people bless the priests and Levites, and in the verse 3 the latter reply.

Converse of subject

invent: Moses might never have existed at all, and was invented by the priests of the Jewish temple!

Adjective modifier

  • Catholic: He decided to approach the Catholic priest asking for Baptism.
  • chief: And has he not come here for the purpose of bring them bound before the chief priests?
  • catholic: There was no in long island sound a catholic priest the option for.
  • secular: During their rule the college had become the main source of secular priests on the Scottish Mission.
  • Egyptian: I will use the story of Ibrahim Khalil the former Egyptian Coptic priest.
  • Taoist: Maybe live there for 20 years, learn Chinese, become a Christian Taoist priest.

Noun used with modifier

  • Jesuit: The French Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin first postulated the evolution of consciousness in the nineteen thirties.
  • chantry: The chantry priest funded by his will was to pray on Wednesdays and Fridays for the souls of his parents and himself.
  • parish: On a recent visit, I was pleased to bump into the parish priest, Father John Burrows.
  • celibate: Catholicism generally spreads from parent to child but celibate priests play a role too.
  • Buddhist: The sky's darkening - it's getting late in the day. ] 2 [ Two Buddhist priests are walking through some tall grass.
  • voodoo: Voodoo priests in London have been linked with ritual murders.

Possessives

doorway: The S doorway is in situ, the priest's doorway has been reassembled in the S porch.

Preposition: of

temple: Moses might never have existed at all, and was invented by the priests of the Jewish temple!