disciple
Syllables: dis·ci·ple/dɪˈsaɪ.pəl/
disciple noun: a person who learns from another, especially one who then teaches others.
Noun (1)
disciple (plural disciples)
- A person who learns from another, especially one who then teaches others.
- An active follower or adherent of someone, or some philosophy etc.
- And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 9:10
- By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC
- A wretched, miserable-looking man.
Verb
disciple (third-person singular simple present disciples, present participle discipling, simple past and past participle discipled)
- To convert (a person) into a disciple.
- To train, educate, teach.
- fraile youth is oft to follie led, / Through false allurement of that pleasing baite, / That better were in vertues discipled […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- To routinely counsel (one's peer or junior) one-on-one in their discipleship of Christ, as a fellow affirmed disciple.
- Most recently, messengers to the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting passed the resolution On Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage, and the Family, which resolves among many beliefs that “we encourage churches to disciple their members in a biblical view of marriage, sexuality...2026 February 18, Diana Chandler, “Church of England abandons pursuit of spiritual blessings for same-sex couples”, in mbcpathway.com
Noun (2) capitalized: Disciple
Disciple (plural Disciples)
- Any of the followers of Jesus Christ.
- One of the twelve disciples of Jesus sent out as Apostles.
- Ellipsis of Disciple of Christ (“member of a particular religious group”).
disciple meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Nepali and Tagalog
disciple in Hindi
- person who learns from another
- विद्यार्थी vidyārthī, विद्यार्थिनी vidyārthinī, छात्र chātra, छात्रा chātrā, शिष्य śiṣya, शिष्या śiṣyā
- active follower or adherent
- अनुयायी anuyāyī
disciple in Marathi
- शिष्य, शिष्या
disciple in Nepali
- शिष्या
disciple in Tagalog
- person who learns from another
- disipulo
More languagesFewer languages
- disciple in Indonesian
- murid
- disciple in Persian
- شاگرد šâgerd, مرید morid
- disciple in Thai
- สาวก sǎa-wók
Examples of disciple in a sentence
- The wise old monk had little screen time compared with his buxom young disciple.
- His disciple spread the Drukpa school in western Tibet.
- Soon missionaries coming out of discipled circles will provide most of the force required by new opportunities.
Synonyms of disciple
Forms of disciple
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | disciples |
| plural | Disciples |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | disciples |
| present participle | discipling |
| past participle | discipled |
| past | discipled |
Origin of disciple
From Middle English disciple, discipul, from Old English discipul (“disciple, scholar”), from Latin discipulus (“pupil, learner”). Later influenced or superseded in Middle English by Old French deciple.
A proprialization of disciple.
Words formed from disciple
Phrases with disciple
Questions about disciple
- What does disciple mean?
- Disciple means a person who learns from another, especially one who then teaches others.
- What is disciple in Hindi?
- Disciple in Hindi is विद्यार्थी (vidyārthī), विद्यार्थिनी (vidyārthinī), छात्र (chātra). See Disciple meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is disciple?
- Disciple can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce disciple?
- Disciple is pronounced /dɪˈsaɪ.pəl/.
- What is the plural of disciple?
- The plural of disciple is disciples.
Words near disciple in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: disciple (page history and authors); Disciple (page history and authors); disciple (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); disciple (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-disciple.ogg.
Cite this entry: “disciple.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/disciple. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.