English Dictionary

CLERGY

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IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does clergy mean? 

CLERGY (noun)
  The noun CLERGY has 1 sense:

1. in Christianity, clergymen collectively (as distinguished from the laity)play

  Familiarity information: CLERGY used as a noun is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


CLERGY (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

In Christianity, clergymen collectively (as distinguished from the laity)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("clergy" is a kind of...):

priesthood (the body of ordained religious practitioners)

Meronyms (members of "clergy"):

clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend (a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clergy"):

pastorate (pastors collectively)

prelacy; prelature (prelates collectively)

Antonym:

laity (in Christianity, members of a religious community that do not have the priestly responsibilities of ordained clergy)

Derivation:

clerical (of or relating to the clergy)


 Context examples 


Caregivers may be health professionals, family members, friends, social workers, or members of the clergy.

(Caregiver, NCI Dictionary)

Although caregivers include trained medical, nursing, and other health personnel, the concept also refers to parents, spouses, or other family members, friends, members of the clergy, teachers, social workers, fellow patients, etc.

(Caregiver, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A group of scientists, doctors, clergy, and consumers that reviews and approves the action plan for every clinical trial.

(Institutional Review Board, NCI Dictionary)

“There is sooth in what you say, lady,” Alleyne answered; “and yet I scarce can see what you would have the clergy and the church to do.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was afraid she had used some strong, some contemptuous expressions in speaking of the clergy, and that should not have been.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

"Oh! I am a clergyman," he said; "and the clergy are often appealed to about odd matters."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A member of the clergy in charge of a chapel or who works with the military or with an institution, such as a hospital.

(Chaplain, NCI Dictionary)

These were searched and sought out through the whole nation, by the prince and his wisest counsellors, among such of the priesthood as were most deservedly distinguished by the sanctity of their lives, and the depth of their erudition; who were indeed the spiritual fathers of the clergy and the people.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Mr. Collins listened to her with the determined air of following his own inclination, and, when she ceased speaking, replied thus: My dear Miss Elizabeth, I have the highest opinion in the world in your excellent judgement in all matters within the scope of your understanding; but permit me to say, that there must be a wide difference between the established forms of ceremony amongst the laity, and those which regulate the clergy; for, give me leave to observe that I consider the clerical office as equal in point of dignity with the highest rank in the kingdom—provided that a proper humility of behaviour is at the same time maintained.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The clergy are lost there in the crowds of their parishioners.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Every man has a price." (English proverb)

"All that glisters is not gold." (William Shakespeare)

"No one knows a son better than the father." (Chinese proverb)

"A good deed is worth gold." (Dutch proverb)



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