clergy
UK/ˈklɜːdʒi//ˈklɝd͡ʒi/
clergy noun: a body of persons, such as priests, who are trained and ordained for religious service.
Noun
clergy (usually uncountable, plural clergies)
- A body of persons, such as priests, who are trained and ordained for religious service.
- Today we brought together clergy from the Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and Reformed traditions for ecumenical dialogue.
- Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- first estate, spiritualty, third sex, spirituality
clergy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
clergy in Hindi
- पादरी वर्ग, पादरीगण, पादरीवर्ग
clergy in Tamil
- சமயக்குருக்கள், குருமார், திருச்சபைக் குருமார்
clergy in Marathi
- पाद्रीवर्ग
clergy in Bengali
- যাজকবর্গ
More languagesFewer languages
- clergy in Telugu
- మతాచార్యులు
- clergy in Malayalam
- ക്രൈസ്തവപുരോഹിതഗണം, മതാചാര്യന്മാർ
- clergy in Tagalog
- klero
- clergy in Arabic
- إكْلِيرُوس ʔiklīrūs
- clergy in Vietnamese
- tư tế, hàng giáo sĩ, tăng lữ
Examples of clergy in a sentence
- The rustics doffed their hats at the clergy.
- Several popes forbade attendance at masses celebrated by incelibate clergy.
- Other Catholic clergy were sent overseas in various emissarial capacities as well.
Synonyms of clergy
Antonyms
Forms of clergy
| plural | clergies |
|---|
Origin of clergy
From Middle English clergie (attested in the 13th century), from Old French clergie (“learned men”), from Late Latin clēricātus, from Latin clēricus (“one ordained for religious services”), from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós, “of the clergy”). Equivalent to cleric + -ate.
Words formed from clergy
Words that rhyme with clergy
Questions about clergy
- What does clergy mean?
- Clergy means a body of persons, such as priests, who are trained and ordained for religious service.
- What is clergy in Hindi?
- Clergy in Hindi is पादरी वर्ग, पादरीगण, पादरीवर्ग. See Clergy meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is clergy?
- Clergy is a noun.
- How do you pronounce clergy?
- Clergy is pronounced /ˈklɜːdʒi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of clergy?
- The plural of clergy is clergies.
Words near clergy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clergy (page history and authors); clergy (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clergy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clergy (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clergy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clergy (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clergy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-clergy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “clergy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clergy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.