CLERGYMAN Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

clergyman

noun

Definition of clergyman

as in preacher

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of clergyman McColumn is a retired Brigadier General and clergyman from Warner Robins, Georgia. — Irene Wright, USA Today, 27 Apr. 2026 The clergyman warns that failure to do so would jeopardize the future of Iran as well as the stability of the entire Middle East, unleashing an even more volatile and repressive regime in the war’s wake. — Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune, 4 Apr. 2026 The clergyman warned, however, that failure to do so would jeopardize the future of Iran and the stability of the entire Middle East, unleashing an even more volatile and repressive Tehran government in the war’s wake. — Angie Leventis Lourgos, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2026 The complex served briefly as a climate station for veterans, then as a retreat for clergymen through the 1950s, before being abandoned entirely. — Paul Jebara, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for clergyman

Recent Examples of Synonyms for clergyman

Noun

Videos posted on social media show street preachers speaking with multiple police officers outside the event.

— Emily Holshouser, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 July 2026
During a rare weekend at home, Godwin wrote the song — an allusion to his grandfather, Charles Godwin, a Methodist preacher — after putting the kids to bed one night.

— Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 23 July 2026

Definition of preacher

Noun

Meanwhile, churchmen claimed the authority to restrain violence, encouraged just wars and threatened violent behaviors with spiritual sanctions.

— Joëlle Rollo-Koster, Fortune, 15 Apr. 2026
Not all birth rituals depended on the intercession of a saint or the authority of a churchman.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Mar. 2026

Definition of churchman

Noun

In the 1920s the Soviet biochemist Vladimir and the French Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin developed the idea of the noosphere as being the sphere of human reason or thought encapsulating the Earth.

— Keith Cooper, Space.com, 27 July 2026
Players from that 1951 side have strongly refuted the story, while the priest at its centre has never been identified.

— Conor O'Neill, New York Times, 27 July 2026

Definition of priest

Noun

Among the residential buildings were the home of a deacon named Tisous and another that researchers think may have originally been a house church before the construction of the basilica.

— Anne Doran, ARTnews.com, 6 July 2026
Among them were the house of Tisous, identified as a church deacon and dating to the second half of the fourth century, which archaeologists believe served as a house church before the construction of the city’s basilica.

— ABC News, ABC News, 4 July 2026

Definition of deacon

Noun

However, a reverend in Zambia — Billiance Chondwe — says he's noticed a change.

— Gabrielle Emanuel, NPR, 18 June 2026
Spirtual foundation Astara, where Guidera reportedly served as a reverend, paid tribute to the late actor in an emotional social media post over the weekend.

— Edward Segarra, USA Today, 9 June 2026

Definition of reverend

Noun

Yet the mental horizons of Maucci and his associates were wider and more mobile than those of the big shots, small-time lawyers, and clerics who’d remained to vegetate in their old Lunigiana.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 July 2026
Top officials appear as the crowd size swells Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, led the prayers at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla mosque for the late Khamenei and family members killed in the strike.

— Nasser Karimi, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2026

Definition of cleric

Browse Nearby Words

clergy

clergyman

clergymen

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“Clergyman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clergyman. Accessed 28 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of clergyman

noun

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