as in priest
a person specially trained and authorized to conduct religious services in a Christian church
a clergyperson of your choice would be the best one to advise on this spiritual matter
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of clergyperson
What makes the family tradition sustainable in central Massachusetts, where the Vallelis now live, is a pastor-sharing arrangement between two congregations that couldn’t afford a full-time clergyperson on their own.
—
G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Apr. 2020
G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Apr. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clergyperson
Noun
-
He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Grand Island in 1994 and served as vicar general and pastor of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary before his 2021 appointment to Colorado Springs, according to the archdiocese.—
Elizabeth Hernandez,
Denver Post,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Chief among his many complaints was the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences, which had become not only widespread but even mandatory for many priests, in order to generate funds to pay for the construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
His father, much older than his mom, was a preacher who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
29 Mar. 2026
-
Moreover, as soon as Christianity began to spread outside his native land, Christian converts faced new situations in unexpected contexts, completely different from those of their founder, an itinerant Jewish preacher in the sparsely populated hinterlands of rural Galilee.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The pompous clergyman enters the life of the Bennet family, his distant cousins, with the assumption that, given his respectable position and benefactor, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, one of those daughters would be happy to marry him.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
-
Garage owner and keen early automobilist Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan, the son of a rural English clergyman, built his first car, an eponymous prototype, in 1909.—
Jamie Kitman,
Air Mail,
21 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In addition to Trump’s inauguration pastor, conservative stakeholders have encouraged companies to invest in bitcoin.—
Bracey Harris,
NBC news,
28 Mar. 2026
-
Hardy, who now works in digital marketing in Southern California, was raised in a religious family where the natural trajectory to become a pastor was to attend a school like Hyles-Anderson.—
Olivia Empson,
Vanity Fair,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Clergyperson.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clergyperson. Accessed 29 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
