laity

noun la·ity \ ˈlā-ə-tē \

Definition of laity

1 :the people of a religious faith as distinguished from its clergy

The laity has played an important role in the history of the church.

2 :the mass of the people as distinguished from those of a particular profession or those specially skilled

writers who can interpret this wholeness both to their colleagues and the laity
—P. B. Sears

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Examples of laity in a Sentence

a member of the laity
The laity has played an important role in the history of the church.

Recent Examples of laity from the Web

About how to advise the laity about dealing with this.

— joshua cohen, WIRED, "The Great Tech Panic: What If All Your Secrets Became Public Information?," 25 Aug. 2017
Both Cardinal Tobin and Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the prefect of the Vatican’s dicastery for laity, family and life, who was appointed by Pope Francis, wrote positive blurbs for Father Martin’s book.

— sharon otterman, New York Times, "As Church Shifts, a Cardinal Welcomes Gays; They Embrace a ‘Miracle’," 13 June 2017
YESTERDAY’S WORD — MILITARY mail malt malty marl mart milia miry mitral lair laity liar limit limy lira tail trail tram tray trial trim trimly airily airy alit amir amity army arty rail rimy To purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com.

— kathleen saxe, The Mercury News, "Word game: January 26, 2017," 26 Jan. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'laity.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.