benefice
Americannoun
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a position or post granted to an ecclesiastic that guarantees a fixed amount of property or income.
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the revenue itself.
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the equivalent of a fief in the early Middle Ages.
verb (used with object)
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benefices,
present (3rd person singular)
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beneficed,
past participle, past
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beneficing
present participle
noun
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Christianity an endowed Church office yielding an income to its holder; a Church living
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the property or revenue attached to such an office
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(in feudal society) a tenement (piece of land) held by a vassal from a landowner on easy terms or free, esp in return for military support See also vassalage
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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beneficesimple
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beneficessimple
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have beneficedperfect
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has beneficedperfect
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am beneficingprogressive
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are beneficingprogressive
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is beneficingprogressive
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have been beneficingperfect progressive
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has been beneficingperfect progressive
Past
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beneficedsimple
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had beneficedperfect
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was beneficingprogressive
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were beneficingprogressive
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had been beneficingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of benefice
1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Latin beneficium service, kindness ( benefic ( us ) benefic + -ium -ium )
Vocabulary lists containing benefice
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:
The benefice of Middleton was merged with neighbouring Great Henny.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2023
The church, she says, is one of 15 in the benefice.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2023
Swift was lucky to be left with a dreary benefice in Dublin, the deanship of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
From Time Magazine Archive
Its marble lions gaze out with dignity over trash and traffic alike, and the lofty portico proclaims the institution's origins in the heady days of 19th century hope and public benefice.
From Time Magazine Archive
According to his own principles, he would have committed a great sin, if he had interfered, for the purpose of obtaining a benefice, on the most honorable terms, for the most pious divine.
From Dealings with the Dead, Volume I (of 2) by School, A Sexton of the Old
Some tycoons have crafted named benefices: the Broad and David Geffen foundations, for example.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2025
Nearly 2,600 are benefices controlled by Anglican laymen as private patrons.
From Time Magazine Archive
By signing the Act of Separation, 474 clergymen and professors surrendered the benefices they held under the Establishment.
From Time Magazine Archive
Through the appointment of bishops, deans and through the patronage of many benefices, it would be possible for the State to control the Church for its own purposes..
From Time Magazine Archive
In 1660 he was restored to his benefices, and was promoted to the archdeaconry of Meirioneth; and in 1666 he was raised to the bishopric of Bangor.
From A Biographical Sketch of some of the Most Eminent Individuals which the Principality of Wales has produced since the Reformation by Williams, Robert
Outside and near the walls of the city lies the parish of Santiago where one beneficed secular has charge of all the Spaniards who live outside the said walls.
These chosen clergy are called proctors, and are elected by the votes of the beneficed clergy.
From The Church Handy Dictionary by Anonymous
It was not, indeed, until 1662 that it was legally necessary for a beneficed clergyman to have been so ordained.
From Breaking with the Past Catholic Principles Abandoned at the Reformation by Farley, John Cardinal
The village of San Antonio is also near the walls, and is in charge of a beneficed secular.
Gower asserts as strongly as Wycliffe that the beneficed clergy escaped from their parishes to the University as to a place of riot and self-indulgence.
From Chaucer and His England by Coulton, G. G.
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.
