prioress

/ˈpraɪərəs/

Other forms: prioresses

The head of a group of nuns is a prioress. Geoffrey Chaucer immortalized this figure by including The Prioress's Tale as one of his 14th-century Canterbury Tales.

In the hierarchy of religious figures at a Carmelite or Dominican monastery, a group of nuns is lead by a prioress, whose superior is called an abbess. The male version of these ranks are prior and abbot, leaders who preside over a group of Catholic monks.

Definitions of prioress

1. noun

   the superior of a group of nuns
   synonyms: abbess, mother superior

   examples:

   Saint Bridget

   Irish abbess; a patron saint of Ireland (453-523)

   Heloise

   student and mistress and wife of Abelard (circa 1098-1164)

   types:

   mother

   a term of address for a mother superior

   type of:

   superior

   the head of a religious community