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church father

American  

noun

  1. father.


Etymology

Origin of church father

First recorded in 1855–60

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.

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This is the common paraphrase of an argument by Tertullian, an early church father.

From Salon Apr. 5, 2025

They include volumes like a Greek first edition of liturgies of John Chrysostom, an early church father, printed in Rome in 1526.

From New York Times Jan. 1, 2022

The church father Tertullian insisted that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Roman Catholic Church.

From New York Times Feb. 16, 2021

The great 4th century church father, St. Augustine, was bishop of Hippo in what is now Tunisia.

From Time Magazine Archive

I intuited that such revelations made Augustine a Protestant church father more than a Catholic father.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

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