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)
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
- nonbeneficed adjective
- unbeneficed adjective
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.
The church, she says, is one of 15 in the benefice.
From BBC • Jul. 16, 2023
The benefice of Middleton was merged with neighbouring Great Henny.
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
That it has taken the House until 1970 to bestow such a benefice on the electorate is a commentary in itself.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Brontë, after having been nearly five years minister of Hartshead-cum-Clifton, resigned the benefice, and accepted, from the vicar of Bradford, the incumbency of Thornton, a perpetual curacy in that parish.
From The Bront? Family, Vol. 1 of 2 with special reference to Patrick Branwell Bront? by Leyland, Francis A.
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.
