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

That post went to Hossein Taeb, a hard-line cleric and longtime intelligence chief who led one of the first major crackdowns on protests, in 2009. — Lee Keath, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2026

Iran's Assembly of Experts, a group of 88 clerics, picked the mid-ranking cleric with influence in the country's security forces and business networks to succeed his father, announcing the decision March 8. — Zac Anderson, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026

The story begins in 1810, when Johann Wilhelm Ebel, a young cleric who had studied at the University of Königsberg, returned to the city as a teacher and preacher. — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026

But both Australian clerics successfully appealed their convictions. — ABC News, 13 Aug. 2026