postulant

[pos-chuh-luhnt]

noun

1. a candidate, especially for admission into a religious order.

2. a person who asks or applies for something.

postulant

/ ˈpɒstjʊlənt /

noun

1. a person who makes a request or application, esp a candidate for admission to a religious order

Other Word Forms

• postulantship noun
• postulancy noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of postulant¹

1750–60; < French < Latin postulant- (stem of postulāns ), present participle of postulāre to ask for, claim, require

Word History and Origins

Origin of postulant¹

C18: from Latin postulāns asking, from postulāre to ask, demand

Example Sentences

The postulants are guided in reconceptualizing their entire lives as a series of events indicating a divinely directed transformation, a progressive unfolding of self that operates in both temporal registers.

Read more on Scientific American

If that all goes well, three months later, she enters the postulant stage, at which she can start wearing the makeup but is not yet given a veil.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Even today, postulants who enter the order, which has chapters around the world, mostly spend their days alone, in spartan cells in prayer and contemplation, mixed with some manual labor.

Read more on Washington Post

She had already been there four years, arriving at age 20 and spending the first six months as a postulant before becoming a novice nun.

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While a postulant at the convent, she began to have seizures.

Read more on Washington Times

Related Words

• beginner 
• learner 
• neophyte 
• newcomer 
• pupil 
• trainee