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clergywoman

[klur-jee-woo m-uh n]
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noun, plural cler·gy·wom·en.
  1. a female member of the clergy.
  2. a woman who is an ordained Christian minister.
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Origin of clergywoman

clergy(man) + -woman
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

chaplain, cleric, clerical, divine, ecclesiastic, minister, parson, priest, churchwoman, reverend

Examples from the Web for clergywoman

Historical Examples

  • He resisted but little, for his parish needed a clergywoman sadly.

    The Incomplete Amorist

    E. Nesbit

  • She seemed to have been at the inn with the clergywoman, and was telling the tinker-mother the result.

British Dictionary definitions for clergywoman

clergywoman

noun plural -men
  1. a female member of the clergyGender-neutral form: vicar, priest
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for clergywoman

n.

1670s, a nun, from clergy + man (n.). Not seriously as "woman pastor" until 1871; in between it was used humorously for "old woman" or "domineering wife of a clergyman." Cf. clergyman.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper