as in ministerial
of, relating to, or characteristic of the clergy
majestically robed in priestly garments
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Recent Examples of priestly
The text records royal decrees including tax relief during poor Nile floods; donations to temples; the creation of a new priestly office; a festival tied to the heliacal rising of Sirius; and a calendar reform introducing a leap day every four years.
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Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 14 Sep. 2025
In 1997, Greenspan read an article in the Times about a group of geneticists who had tested the Y chromosomes of Jewish men who believed themselves to be part of an ancient priestly tradition called the cohanim.
—Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
The priestly fraternity, named in honor of the anti-modernist Pope St. Pius X, was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre as a response to liturgical reforms made in the Second Vatican Council (also known as Vatican II).
—Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 14 Aug. 2025
One thing to consider, however, is that Leviticus is devoted to priestly concerns.
—Jacob F. Love, The Conversation, 5 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for priestly
Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 14 Sep. 2025
In 1997, Greenspan read an article in the Times about a group of geneticists who had tested the Y chromosomes of Jewish men who believed themselves to be part of an ancient priestly tradition called the cohanim.
—Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
The priestly fraternity, named in honor of the anti-modernist Pope St. Pius X, was founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre as a response to liturgical reforms made in the Second Vatican Council (also known as Vatican II).
—Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 14 Aug. 2025
One thing to consider, however, is that Leviticus is devoted to priestly concerns.
—Jacob F. Love, The Conversation, 5 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for priestly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for priestly
Adjective
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Shah, who is the RSP’s prime ministerial candidate, won the 2022 Kathmandu mayoral race.—
Binaj Gurubacharya,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Mar. 2026
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Thaksin could be eligible for parole in May, his nephew is the party’s prime ministerial candidate.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Under his ruling, clergy will be allowed in-person pastoral visits to all detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the site of frequent protests over roughly the 3,000 federal officers who had surged into the state at the height of the crackdown.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
20 Mar. 2026
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Last year, Morris pleaded guilty to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child, and Schott’s pastoral lineage became something of a liability.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
15 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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People react badly, not to medical AI, not to organizational AI, not even to clerical or personal.—
Kate Aurthur,
Variety,
23 Mar. 2026
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There, these functional artworks — from clerical vestments and altar cloths to lamps, reliquaries and vessels for the performance of the Mass — made distant European rulers present in the liturgical life of Christianity’s most sacred site.—
Sarah Kozlowski,
Dallas Morning News,
21 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Priestly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/priestly. Accessed 24 Mar. 2026.
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