layperson

plural laypeople · plural laypersons · alternative lay person

1. A person who is not a cleric.

   Holonyms: laity; see also Thesaurus:laity

   1 more example

   We should not underestimate European laypeople. They were perfectly capable of thinking for themselves, particularly about death, a religious theme in which everyone had an investment and about which everyone was likely to have an opinion. There is no need to invoke the idea of systematic pagan survival to account for this: Europe’s mass Christianization had been a steady if piecemeal process from the sixth century through to the fourteenth.

   2003, Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History, Penguin, →ISBN, page 16

2. One who is not intimately familiar with a given subject or activity.

   The book was written for professionals, but an intelligent layperson could understand most of it.

   Synonyms: nonexpert, nonspecialist · Antonyms: aficionado, expert, professional, specialist