Synonyms of cleric

cleric

noun

ˈkler-ik 

as in priest

a person specially trained and authorized to conduct religious services in a Christian church

clerics were sharply divided on the issue of whether the war was morally justified

Synonyms & Similar Words

• priest
• preacher
• clergyman
• clerical
• bishop
• minister
• reverend
• deacon
• pastor
• prelate
• ecclesiastic
• clergyperson
• chaplain
• father
• divine
• clerk
• dominie
• priestess
• monk
• pope
• archbishop
• churchman
• missionary
• abbot
• vicar
• rector
• padre
• presbyter
• diocesan
• dean
• curé
• abbé
• parson
• monsignor
• friar
• confessor
• evangelist
• deaconess
• religious
• clergywoman
• curate
• archpriest
• shepherd
• Holy Joe
• revivalist
• mendicant
• missioner
• monastic
• sky pilot
• oblate
• high priestess
• high priest
• missionizer

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• layman
• secular
• layperson
• lay reader
• lector

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of cleric

Revolutionary Guard members and clerics mourn on the esplanade of the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque. — Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 3 July 2026

Funeral ceremonies are expected to begin in Tehran and move to Qom, a stronghold of many senior Shiite clerics, then to Mashhad, Khamenei's birthplace. — ABC News, 13 June 2026

In northern Bavaria sits Bamberg, a charming place with a beer story that dates to a medieval cleric who ordered townsfolk be given a free brew on the day of his death. — David Dickstein, Oc Register, 10 June 2026

In 1994 Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was also a cleric with the rank of ayatollah, issued a fatwa forbidding the practice of self-flagellation. — Charles Preston, Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 May 2026