priestess
/ˈpriːstɛs/US/ˈpristɪs/
priestess noun: a woman with religious duties and responsibilities in certain religions.
Noun
priestess (plural priestesses)
- A woman with religious duties and responsibilities in certain religions.
- Sir Knight, said she (whose looks, language, and gesture create strange thoughts within me) be pleased to know, that I am (I will not say the first) of those Ladies of Honour, who wait upon the high-born, illustrious, and refulgent Maulkina, Daughter to the high and mighty Prince Paraclet, Prince...1656, Samuel Holland, Don Zara Del Fogo, London, retrieved 24 Nov 2019, page 118
- Among the Northern tribes also the woman was held in all moral aspects the equal of man. Alike the blue-eyed wife of the Barbarian and the proud Roman matron were, as the bearers and breeders of the race, the equals of the fighters and rulers of the race. The importance of their functions was fully...1894 June, Elizabeth Bisland, “The Cry of the Women”, in The North American Review, volume 158, number 451, →ISSN, →JSTOR, retrieved 24 Nov 2019, page 758
- A female Christian priest or minister, typically in a Protestant, Old Catholic, or independent Catholic denomination.
- The “extenuating circumstances” set forth by the Rev. Mr. Higgins certainly bring home not only the nature of Bishop Hall's problem but its cause; however, the problems of parish life under a deaconess are insignificant in comparison with the very grave issues raised by the ordination of a...1944 November 19, “Letters”, in The Living Church, volume 109, number 21, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Morehouse-Gorham Co., page 2
- He has cleverly figured out that the deluded pro-priestess faction of the church already has its necessary two-thirds majority and that the time to act is now.1986 June 25, John Fraser, “Dust-up Over Women Will Enliven Anglican Synod”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, →ISSN, page A7
- A priest’s wife.
- As ſoon as they were parted, the Prieſteſs flounced out of the Houſe, call'd for her Coachman, and bid him put in his Horſes, for away would ſhe go […]1709, Delarivier Manley, Secret Memoirs and Manners of Several Persons of Quality, of Both Sexes, from the New Atalantis, an Island in the Mediterranean, 2nd edition, London, →OCLC, page 158
- Synonyms:
- presbytera, presbyteress
Verb
priestess (third-person singular simple present priestesses, present participle priestessing, simple past and past participle priestessed)
- To oversee (a pagan ceremony, etc.) as priestess.
- Ye Ye Ife, a gifted feminist ritualist and priestess of Oshun from San Diego, trained in the Yoruba tradition, designed and priestessed the ritual with me.1998, Wendy Hunter Roberts, Celebrating Her: Feminist Ritualizing Comes of Age, page 124
- Priestessing the earth is for me personally the only natural response to the awe and deep love this evokes in me.2014, Danu Forest, Celtic Tree Magic: Ogham Lore and Druid Mysteries
priestess meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
priestess in Tamil
- பூசாரிப் பெண்
priestess in Urdu
- کاہنہ, پجارن
priestess in Malayalam
- പുരോഹിത, ഉപാസിക്കുന്നവൾ, ഗുരുപത്നി
Examples of priestess in a sentence
- Anya Kless is a dual-tradition, polytheistic pagan priestess, godspouse, and spirit worker.
- Mum bagsed being the priestess who got to dangle Stone over the volcano by his ankles.
- Presently there were bishopesses as well as priestesses, splendidly arrayed in chasubles and diadems.
Synonyms of priestess
Forms of priestess
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | priestesses |
| alternative form | priestress |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | priestesses |
| present participle | priestessing |
| past participle | priestessed |
| past | priestessed |
Origin of priestess
From priest + -ess. Compare Middle English preesteresse (“priestess”). Piecewise doublet of presbyteress.
Words formed from priestess
Questions about priestess
- What does priestess mean?
- Priestess means a woman with religious duties and responsibilities in certain religions.
- What is priestess in Tamil?
- Priestess in Tamil is பூசாரிப் பெண். See Priestess meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is priestess?
- Priestess can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce priestess?
- Priestess is pronounced /ˈpriːstɛs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of priestess?
- The plural of priestess is priestesses.
Words near priestess in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: priestess (page history and authors); priestess (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); priestess (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); priestess (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-priestess.wav.
Cite this entry: “priestess.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/priestess. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.