CLERIC Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

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

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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 cleric The relative success of the war elevated the Revolutionary Guard from a small, street-level militia, initially created to protect Khomeini and the other clerics at the forefront of the Islamic Revolution, into the symbolic defenders of the theocracy. —

Sudarsan Raghavan, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2026 Officially, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the military force sworn to protect Iran’s ruling clerics. —

The Week Us, TheWeek, 6 Apr. 2026 Thousands gathered in Baghdad and across a number of other Iraqi provinces yesterday to demonstrate against the US-Israeli war with Iran after the powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on people to protest. —

Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 5 Apr. 2026 More recently, Kalshi users sued the platform in California earlier this month after the market refused to pay out winners who had successfully predicted the death of Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, citing policy banning betting on deaths. —

Lia Russell march 27, Sacbee.com, 27 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for cleric

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cleric

Noun

When the priest takes his stringent methods too far, the existence of the commune is called into question.

— Matthew Carey, Deadline, 8 Apr. 2026
Any pastor or priest, politician or podcaster, who charges that the modern children of Israel are anything other than the direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the beneficiaries of God’s unbreakable covenant with Israel, Hagee said, is not preaching the word of God.

— Amelie Botbol, FOXNews.com, 8 Apr. 2026