as in prioress
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Recent Examples of abbess
Groff imagined the poet Marie de France as a teenager forced to venture into the dark woods to serve as the abbess.
—
Ron Charles, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023
It’s been nearly 14 centuries since the monastery founded by St. Hild of Whitby, a prominent abbess in 7th century Anglo-Saxon England, hosted the Northumbrian kingdom’s assembly to discuss the date on which its Christian church would celebrate Easter.
—Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY, 28 Apr. 2023
One of them was the abbess of a female religious community in Kent from around 733 to 761 CE, which is consistent with the dating of MS Selden Supra 30.
—Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 21 Feb. 2023
Another early modern abbess, likely one Eadburg of Minster-in-Thanet, left behind a legacy of a different kind: her name and assorted doodles of humanoid figures, inscribed on the pages of an eighth-century Christian manuscript now housed at the University of Oxford.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for abbess
Ron Charles, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023
It’s been nearly 14 centuries since the monastery founded by St. Hild of Whitby, a prominent abbess in 7th century Anglo-Saxon England, hosted the Northumbrian kingdom’s assembly to discuss the date on which its Christian church would celebrate Easter.
—Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY, 28 Apr. 2023
One of them was the abbess of a female religious community in Kent from around 733 to 761 CE, which is consistent with the dating of MS Selden Supra 30.
—Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 21 Feb. 2023
Another early modern abbess, likely one Eadburg of Minster-in-Thanet, left behind a legacy of a different kind: her name and assorted doodles of humanoid figures, inscribed on the pages of an eighth-century Christian manuscript now housed at the University of Oxford.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for abbess
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abbess
Noun
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Matrix by Lauren Groff Currents of violence and devotion coalesce around Marie de France, a 17-year-old sent to be the new prioress of a 12th-century English abbey.—
Mia Barzilay Freund,
Vogue,
7 July 2025
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In response, the diocese said in a statement that the Holy See has acted toward healing the Arlington Carmel and the nuns in the community and not simply the former prioress and her former councilors.—
Elizabeth Campbell,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
21 Apr. 2024
Noun
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The Buddhist nun and chef Jeong Kwan buried pots of kimchi in the ground, to be opened only when the Biennale ends.—
Dada Jovanovic,
ABC News,
28 Sep. 2025
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However, Ainara feels increasingly closer to God and is considering embracing the life of a cloistered nun.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Sep. 2025
Noun
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In the medieval church, women’s roles were limited – usually some form of enclosure and celibacy, such as becoming an anchoress walled up alone for life, or a nun in a classic convent.—
Joelle Rollo-Koster,
The Conversation,
25 Feb. 2025
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Louise, a former anchoress, is her humble, tyrannical maid.—
Hervé Guibert,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Nov. 2024
Noun
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The blind spots of breakthrough technologies Like most of his peers, Farley sees AI’s potential for everything from improving warranty processes to training novice technicians to repair complex engines.—
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson,
semafor.com,
3 Oct. 2025
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The novice user will rely on a single, default tool.—
Marco Argenti,
Time,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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One of the first key players introduced is Dairon, a shadowy monk known as an Expositor voiced in the series by Ming-Na Wen (Mulan; The Mandalorian).—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
1 Oct. 2025
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The British monk Pelagius taught that humans could reach salvation unaided, by sheer moral effort.—
Shai Tubali,
Big Think,
30 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Play it again, Towa Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree follows the titular character, a priestess of Shinju Village, on a time-hopping quest to protect the realm from a malignant entity called Magatsu.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
18 Sep. 2025
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Which priestess of fashion, born in 1881, to immense wealth, probably spent more money on clothes and jewels than any queen ever did?—
Sheldon Pearce,
New Yorker,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As a young religious, Bishop-elect Lombardo did missionary work in Bolivia and Honduras.—
Laura Rodríguez Presa,
chicagotribune.com,
11 Sep. 2020
Noun
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Local spats could now feed into a mass movement that spread far beyond individual disputes between a peasant and a particularly nasty abbot or lord.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Sep. 2025
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By the 1930s the newly emerging field of genetics was growing in popularity, based primarily on the studies of the Austrian biologist and Catholic abbot Gregor Mendel.—
D. Scott Schmid,
Denver Post,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Abbess.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abbess. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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