religious leader

noun

Someone who is recognized by a religious body as having some authority within that body.

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Meanings

nounreligious leader (plural religious leaders)

plural religious leaders

  1. Someone who is recognized by a religious body as having some authority within that body.

    A group of religious leaders in Somaliland is behind an attempt to replace a progressive sexual offences law passed in 2018 with a revised version that protects rapists rather than survivors and allows child marriage.

    2022 August 19, Yousef Timacade, “Religious backlash threatens Somaliland’s progressive rape law”, in openDemocracy, archived from the original on 31 Aug 2022
  2. The leader of a religious order.
  3. In Catholicism, any of a number of individuals, including priests, cardinals, bishops, and the supreme pontiff.
Cite this entry
APA

religious leader. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/religious%20leader

MLA

“religious leader.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/religious%20leader. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “religious leader,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/religious%20leader.

Source: religious leader on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.