DEACONESS Synonyms: 58 Similar and Opposite Words

deaconess

noun

Definition of deaconess

as in clergyman

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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 deaconess Then in 1964, Parks became a deaconess in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. — Jacqueline Howard, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025 In her younger years, Webb was an avid churchgoer in Baltimore, Maryland alongside her father, a deacon, and her mother, a deaconess, who met in a church choir. — Robyn Mowatt, ELLE, 22 June 2023 Welcome to the Rehearsal Club, an artist residency and the one-year-old reincarnation of a nonprofit organization founded in 1913 by Jane Harriss Hall, an Episcopal deaconess, and Jean Greer, the daughter of New York’s Episcopal bishop. — Joanne Kaufman, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2023

Recent Examples of Synonyms for deaconess

Noun

Robin, our hero, is the son of a country clergyman.

— John Swansburg, The Atlantic, 15 June 2026
The trio of vicars starts with James Norton as Sidney Chambers, the doe-eyed clergyman with a taste for cool jazz and clever women.

— Pat Saperstein, Variety, 14 June 2026

Definition of clergyman

Noun

The Rat Queen is Riley Pinkerton, mild-mannered doom priestess and Brooklyn artist, whose musical and visual dreams fuel her band’s raging odyssey.

— Steve Appleford, SPIN, 29 June 2026
Centuries ago, people throughout the Mediterranean region came to consult it via the Pythia or priestess to see what the Greek god Apollo had to say about their future.

— Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 8 June 2026

Definition of priestess

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 for ARTnews, Robb Report, 7 July 2026
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

Definition of deacon

Noun

Man of books and learning Several of the videos show Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth-century bishop and theologian traditionally considered one of the church fathers.

— Denva Gallant, The Conversation, 8 July 2026
Juan José Gerardi Conedera (born December 27, 1922, Guatemala City, Guatemala—killed April 26, 1998, Guatemala City) was a Guatemalan Roman Catholic bishop and human rights activist.

— Britannica Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 July 2026

Definition of bishop

Noun

This would be the case also for an apostate, heretic, schismatic bishop, presbyter, or deacon.

— Fr. Goran Jovicic, National Review, 13 June 2021
Before coming to Birmingham, Webster had served 18 years as executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Sierra Blanca in southern New Mexico.

— Greg Garrison, AL.com, 19 July 2017

Definition of presbyter

Noun

Ian Williamson, dean of the business school, said the new federal policy played a role in the decision as well as student scheduling preferences.

— Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026
But Erwin Chemerinsky, Berkeley’s law school dean, said Trump still won most of the cases the court decided either after oral arguments or through emergency appeals the administration brought.

— Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 3 July 2026

Definition of dean

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

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“Deaconess.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deaconess. Accessed 17 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of deaconess

noun

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