MAN OF THE CLOTH

Pronunciation (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does man of the cloth mean? 

• MAN OF THE CLOTH (noun)
  The noun MAN OF THE CLOTH has 1 sense:

1. a member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church

  Familiarity information: MAN OF THE CLOTH used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MAN OF THE CLOTH (noun)

Meaning:

A member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend

Hypernyms ("man of the cloth" is a kind of...):

spiritual leader (a leader in religious or sacred affairs)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "man of the cloth"):

postulator ((Roman Catholic Church) someone who proposes or pleads for a candidate for beatification or canonization)

ordinand (a person being ordained)

ordinary (a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death)

preacher; preacher man; sermoniser; sermonizer (someone whose occupation is preaching the gospel)

priest (a clergyman in Christian churches who has the authority to perform or administer various religious rites; one of the Holy Orders)

shepherd (a clergyman who watches over a group of people)

subdeacon (a clergyman an order below deacon; one of the Holy Orders in the unreformed western Christian Church and the eastern Catholic Churches but now suppressed in the Roman Catholic Church)

vicar ((Church of England) a clergyman appointed to act as priest of a parish)

vicar ((Episcopal Church) a clergyman in charge of a chapel)

officiant (a clergyman who officiates at a religious ceremony or service)

lector; reader (someone who reads the lessons in a church service; someone ordained in a minor order of the Roman Catholic Church)

doorkeeper; ostiarius; ostiary (the lowest of the minor Holy Orders in the unreformed Western Church but now suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church)

acolyte (someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church but not in the Anglican Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches)

anagnost (a cleric in the minor orders of the Eastern Orthodox Church who reads the lessons aloud in the liturgy (analogous to the lector in the Roman Catholic Church))

archdeacon ((Anglican Church) an ecclesiastical dignitary usually ranking just below a bishop)

chaplain (a clergyman ministering to some institution)

churchman; cleric; divine; ecclesiastic (a clergyman or other person in religious orders)

curate; minister; minister of religion; parson; pastor; rector (a person authorized to conduct religious worship)

deacon (a cleric ranking just below a priest in Christian churches; one of the Holy Orders)

domine; dominee; dominie; dominus (a clergyman; especially a settled minister or parson)

Instance hyponyms:

Charles Wesley; Wesley (English clergyman and brother of John Wesley who wrote many hymns (1707-1788))

John Wesley; Wesley (English clergyman and founder of Methodism (1703-1791))

King; Martin Luther King; Martin Luther King Jr. (United States charismatic civil rights leader and Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of Blacks (1929-1968))

John Keble; Keble (English clergyman who (with John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey) founded the Oxford movement (1792-1866))

Donne; John Donne (English clergyman and metaphysical poet celebrated as a preacher (1572-1631))

Beecher; Henry Ward Beecher (United States clergyman who was a leader for the abolition of slavery (1813-1887))

Roger Williams; Williams (English clergyman and colonist who was expelled from Massachusetts for criticizing Puritanism; he founded Providence in 1636 and obtained a royal charter for Rhode Island in 1663 (1603-1683))

Holonyms ("man of the cloth" is a member of...):

clergy (in Christianity, clergymen collectively (as distinguished from the laity))