clergyman

/ˈklʌrdʒimən/

/ˈklʌdʒimən/

Other forms: clergymen

A clergyman is a male religious leader. Priests, rabbis, ministers, or imams are all considered clergymen if they're male.

While you can use the terms clergyman and clergywoman to specify male and female religious leaders, both clergyperson and simply clergy are fine too. Any term including clergy is most common in Christianity — Catholic clergymen, for example, include priests, deacons, and bishops. The word comes from the Latin clericus, "learned man or priest."

Definitions of clergyman

1. noun

   a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of a Christian church
   synonyms: man of the cloth, reverend

   antonyms:

   layman

   someone who is not a clergyman or a professional person

   examples:

   Henry Ward Beecher

   United States clergyman who was a leader for the abolition of slavery (1813-1887)

   John Donne

   English clergyman and metaphysical poet celebrated as a preacher (1572-1631)

   John Keble

   English clergyman who (with John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey) founded the Oxford movement (1792-1866)

   Martin Luther King Jr.

   United States charismatic civil rights leader and Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of Blacks (1929-1968)

   John Wesley

   English clergyman and founder of Methodism (1703-1791)

   Charles Wesley

   English clergyman and brother of John Wesley who wrote many hymns (1707-1788)

   Roger Williams

   English clergyman and colonist who was expelled from Massachusetts for criticizing Puritanism; he founded Providence in 1636 and obtained a royal charter for Rhode Island in 1663 (1603-1683)

   types:

   acolyte

   someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church but not in the Anglican Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches

   anagnost

   a cleric in the minor orders of the Eastern Orthodox Church who reads the lessons aloud in the liturgy (analogous to the lector in the Roman Catholic Church)

   archdeacon

   (Anglican Church) an ecclesiastical dignitary usually ranking just below a bishop

   chaplain

   a clergyman ministering to some institution

   churchman, cleric, divine, ecclesiastic

   a clergyman or other person in religious orders

   curate, minister, minister of religion, parson, pastor, rector

   a person authorized to conduct religious worship

   deacon

   a cleric ranking just below a priest in Christian churches; one of the Holy Orders

   domine, dominee, dominie, dominus

   a clergyman; especially a settled minister or parson

   doorkeeper, ostiarius, ostiary

   the lowest of the minor Holy Orders in the unreformed Western Church but now suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church

   lector, reader

   someone who reads the lessons in a church service; someone ordained in a minor order of the Roman Catholic Church

   officiant

   a clergyman who officiates at a religious ceremony or service

   ordinand

   a person being ordained

   ordinary

   a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death

   postulator

   (Roman Catholic Church) someone who proposes or pleads for a candidate for beatification or canonization

   preacher, preacher man, sermoniser, sermonizer

   someone whose occupation is preaching the gospel

   priest

   a clergyman in Christian churches who has the authority to perform or administer various religious rites; one of the Holy Orders

   shepherd

   a clergyman who watches over a group of people

   subdeacon

   a clergyman an order below deacon; one of the Holy Orders in the unreformed western Christian church and the eastern Catholic Churches but now suppressed in the Roman Catholic Church

   vicar

   (Church of England) a clergyman appointed to act as priest of a parish

   vicar

   (Episcopal Church) a clergyman in charge of a chapel

   altar boy

   a boy serving as an acolyte

   archpriest, hierarch, high priest, prelate, primate

   a senior clergyman and dignitary

   bishop

   a senior member of the Christian clergy having spiritual and administrative authority; appointed in Christian churches to oversee priests or ministers; considered in some churches to be successors of the twelve Apostles of Christ

   canon

   a priest who is a member of a cathedral chapter

   celebrant

   an officiating priest celebrating the Eucharist

   prison chaplain

   a chaplain in a prison

   confessor

   a priest who hears confession and gives absolution

   domestic prelate

   (Roman Catholic Church) a priest who is an honorary member of the papal household

   evangelist, gospeler, gospeller, revivalist

   a preacher of the Christian gospel

   Father, Padre

   `Father' is a term of address for priests in some churches (especially the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox Catholic Church); `Padre' is frequently used in the military

   hospital chaplain

   a chaplain in a hospital

   Holy Joe, military chaplain, padre, sky pilot

   a chaplain in one of the military services

   ministrant

   someone who serves as a minister

   Monsignor

   (Roman Catholic Church) an ecclesiastical title of honor bestowed on some priests

   ordainer

   a cleric who ordains; a cleric who admits someone to holy orders

   pardoner

   a medieval cleric who raised money for the church by selling papal indulgences

   pluralist

   a cleric who holds more than one benefice at a time

   pontifex

   a member of the highest council of priests in ancient Rome

   priestess

   a woman priest

   thurifer

   an acolyte who carries a thurible

   vicar

   a Roman Catholic priest who acts for another higher-ranking clergyman

   type of:

   spiritual leader

   a leader in religious or sacred affairs