priest Definition
priest (prēst)
noun
- a person whose function is to make sacrificial offerings and perform other religious rites as an intermediary between deity and worshipers
- in the early Christian church, a presbyter, or elder
- in hierarchical Christian churches, a clergyman ranking next below a bishop and authorized to administer the sacraments
- 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 Synonyms
priest
n.
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!
Browse dictionary entries near priest
- ‹ prier
- ‹ prie-dieu
- ‹ pride oneself on
- ‹ pride of place
- ‹ pride-of-India
- ‹ pride
- ‹ pricy
- ‹ prickly poppy
- ‹ prickly pear
- ‹ prickly heat
- priest-penitent privilege ›
- priest-ridden ›
- priestcraft ›
- priestess ›
- priesthood ›
- Priestley ›
- priestly ›
- prig ›
- priggish ›
- priggishness ›

