postulant

noun pos·tu·lant \ ˈpäs-chə-lənt \

|Updated on: 11 Jul 2018

Definition of postulant

1 : a person admitted to a religious order as a probationary candidate for membership

2 : a person on probation before being admitted as a candidate for holy orders in the Episcopal Church

Recent Examples of postulant from the Web

One of the postulants is Barbara Prate, a bright, occasionally caustic 45-year-old nurse from New Jersey.

— kristina krug, Smithsonian, "Meet the Americans Following in the Footsteps of the Knights Templar," 28 June 2018
Brother Reilly had given him a short tour of the public areas—the chapel, the guest parlor, the dining hall—and then escorted him to the front veranda, where the other postulants had gathered to admire the grounds.

— john l’heureux, The New Yorker, "The Long Black Line," 14 May 2018
The Sound of Music’’ starred Mary Martin — then just weeks away from her 46th birthday — as Maria, the young postulant who leaves an abbey to become a governess to the von Trapp family.

— don aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, "There’s no solving a problem like ‘The Sound of Music’," 3 May 2018
Maria, a postulant at a convent near Salzburg, Austria, is detached from her duties to be governess to the seven motherless children of Baron Von Trapp.

— thr staff, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Sound of Music': THR's 1965 Review," 2 Mar. 2018
After high school, he was accepted as a postulant to the Augustinian Academy in Staten Island, N.Y., and was accepted to the Order in September 1946.

— adia h. robinson, Philly.com, "Father Joseph Xavier O'Connor, 89, Augustinian priest," 21 June 2017

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