Jesuit
Americannoun
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Jesuits
plural
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a member of a Roman Catholic religious order Society of Jesus founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534.
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(often lowercase) a crafty, intriguing, or equivocating person: so called in allusion to the methods ascribed to the order by its opponents.
adjective
noun
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a member of a Roman Catholic religious order (the Society of Jesus ) founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola in 1534 with the aims of defending the papacy and Catholicism against the Reformation and to undertake missionary work among the heathen
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informal (sometimes not capital) a person given to subtle and equivocating arguments; casuist
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Jesuit
1550–60; < New Latin Jēsuita, equivalent to Latin Jēsu ( s ) + -ita -ite 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Jesuit High, an all-boys Catholic school, has a strong college prep program along with a history of sending players to Division 1 programs and even the NFL.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
He grew up in Kolkata, moving between a convent school and a prestigious Jesuit boys' school where he first discovered music while cleaning instruments in the music room.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
Speaking of football jerseys, Hollins also was carrying one from Walsh Jesuit High School bearing the number 84.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
He was the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Jesuit order, and the first to take the name Francis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
The man had his back to him, but he had no difficulty recognizing the Jesuit priest who had helped officiate at the funeral mass of old Pedro Garcia.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
Yet Mr. Weber showed that Dutch Jesuits deployed the camera obscura as a metaphor in devotional literature and sermons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Jesuits were historically looked on with suspicion by Rome.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2025
A diligent student, he studied to be a chemist in college but decided instead to join the Jesuits, the highly intellectual order known for its focus on education and its engagement with gritty real-world situations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2025
"It's time to go forward," he asserts, quoting Father Frans, who he says inspired him to join the Jesuits.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2024
“DePaul would be perfect. This is what the Jesuits are known for. Or, if he didn’t like it there, go for the University of Illinois,” she counseled.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
