cleric

a person specially trained and authorized to conduct religious services in a Christian church <clerics were sharply divided on the issue of whether the war was morally justified> Synonyms clergyperson, clerical, clerk, deacon, divine, dominie, ecclesiastic, minister, preacher, priest, reverendRelated Words churchman, clergyman, father, Holy Joe [slang], padre; clergywoman, deaconess, priestess; abbot, archbishop, archpriest, bishop, dean, diocesan, monsignor, pope, prelate, presbyter; abbé, curate, curé, parson, pastor, rector, shepherd, vicar; chaplain, confessor, sky pilot; evangelist, missionary, missioner, missionizer, revivalist; friar, mendicant, monastic, monk, oblate, religious; high priest, high priestessNear Antonyms lay reader, lectorAntonyms layman, layperson, secular