preacher

noun

preach·​er ˈprē-chər 

plural preachers

: one who preaches: such as

a

: a person who delivers a sermon publicly

a street preacher

b

: one whose function is to preach sermons : pastor, minister

She waited patiently on a Sunday morning until the crowd had said good-by to the preacher.

—Don Jeffries

"What kind of preacher are you? What denomination?" "I was ordained in a Baptist church, but I'm sort of nondenominational now."

—John Grisham

c

: one who inculcates or exhorts something earnestly or officiously

… he was an ardent preacher of gentlemanly ethics …

—Paul Schullery

… he was perceived by the larger world, not inaccurately, as a preacher of the hatred.

—Nicholas Lemann

Synonyms

• priest
• clergyman
• pastor
• minister
• reverend

Examples of preacher in a Sentence

the marriage will be performed by our usual preacher

Recent Examples on the Web

Balmer, who visited him in Baton Rouge while researching a 1998 magazine piece about the disgraced preacher, said Swaggart struggled mightily after his fall from grace. —Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 2 July 2025

The Pentecostal preacher was caught on camera with a prostitute in New Orleans in 1988, which led to his defrocking by the Assembly of God denomination. —Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 July 2025

Janet Paschal, a soloist at Jimmy Swaggart Ministries from 1982 to 1987, portrayed the preacher as a trend-setter and a trailblazer who broke barriers. —Frank E. Lockwood, Arkansas Online, 1 July 2025

The television preacher from Louisiana died Tuesday, as announced on his public Facebook page. —EW.com, 1 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for preacher

• bleacher
• creature
• feature
• reacher
• teacher
• schoolteacher

Kids Definition

preacher

noun

preach·​er

ˈprē-chər

: one that preaches

especially : minister entry 1 sense 1b