Meanings
plural clergies
- uncountableusuallyA body of persons, such as priests, who are trained and ordained for religious service.
Today we brought together clergy from the Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and Reformed traditions for ecumenical dialogue.
2 more examples
Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLCAfter years of debate, hundreds of United Methodists from all over the world gathered in St. Louis last week to settle the denomination’s stance on LGBT clergy and same-sex weddings.
2019 March 3, Dakin Andone, “Fractured after vote against LGBT clergy, weddings, United Methodists face possible split”, in CNN, archived from the original on 20 Nov 2023Synonyms: first estate, spiritualty, third sex, first estate, spirituality, spiritualty, third sex
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA body of persons, such as priests, who are trained and ordained for religious service.
More synonyms by meaning
nounin Christianity, clergymen collectively (as distinguished from the laity)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekκληρικός“of the clergy”
- Latinclēricus“one ordained for religious services”
- Late Latinclēricātus
- Old Frenchclergie“learned men”
- Middle Englishclergie
- Englishclergy
From Middle English clergie (attested in the 13th century), from Old French clergie (“learned men”), from Late Latin clēricātus, from Latin clēricus (“one ordained for religious services”), from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós, “of the clergy”). Equivalent to cleric + -ate.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic إكْلِيرُوس
- إكْلِيرُوس (ʔiklīrūs)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Bulgarian духове́нство, клир
- духове́нство (duhovénstvo)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- клир (klir)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Chinese Mandarin 神職人員 /神职人员, 圣职者
- 神職人員 /神职人员 (shénzhí rényuán)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- 圣职者 (shèngzhízhě)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- 聖職者 /圣职者 (shèngzhízhě)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Czech duchovenstvo
- duchovenstvopeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Danish gejstlighed, præsteskab
- gejstlighedpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- præsteskabpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Dutch geestelijkheid, clerus
- geestelijkheidpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- cleruspeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Esperanto ekleziularo, pastraro
- ekleziularopeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- pastraropeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Finnish papisto
- papistopeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
French clergé
- clergépeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
German Geistlichkeit, Klerus
- Geistlichkeitpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- Kleruspeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Greek κλήρος, ιερατείο
- κλήρος (klíros)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- ιερατείο (ierateío)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Hungarian papság
- papságpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Irish cléir
- cléirpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Italian clero
- cleropeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Japanese 聖職者
- 聖職者 (seishokusha)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Korean 성직자
- 성직자 (seongjikja)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Norwegian Bokmål geistlighet, presteskap
- geistlighetpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- presteskappeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Polish duchowieństwo, kler
- duchowieństwopeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- klerpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Portuguese clero
- cleropeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Romanian cler
- clerpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Russian духове́нство
- духове́нство (duxovénstvo)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Scottish Gaelic clèir
- clèirpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Slovak duchovenstvo
- duchovenstvopeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Spanish clero
- cleropeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Swedish prästerskap
- prästerskappeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Tagalog klero
- kleropeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Ukrainian духове́нство, причт
- духове́нство (duxovénstvo)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- причт (pryčt)people trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Vietnamese tư tế, hàng giáo sĩ
- tư tếpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- hàng giáo sĩpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
- tăng lữpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Welsh clerigaeth
- clerigaethpeople trained to officiate at religious ceremonies and services
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with clergy
All rhymes →Cite this entry
clergy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clergy
“clergy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clergy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “clergy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clergy.
Source: clergy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.