cleric
Americannoun
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a member of the clergy.
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a member of a clerical party.
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(used with a plural verb) clerics, half-sized or small-sized reading glasses worn on the nose, usually rimless or with a thin metal frame.
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of cleric
1615–25; < Late Latin clēricus priest < Greek klērikós, equivalent to klêr ( os ) lot, allotment + -ikos -ic
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 occupier, under the pretext of security and for its own interests, has closed the mosque," cleric Ayman Abu Najm, who had come from Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, said.
From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026
The supreme leader must also be a mujtahid, a cleric qualified to issue religious rulings.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026
The 56-year-old cleric largely kept a low profile during his father's rule, but there were longstanding rumours about his influence as a gatekeeper to the late supreme leader.
From BBC • Mar. 9, 2026
Mojtaba Khamenei, a cleric who has a salt-and-pepper beard and the black turban of the "seyyed" -- descendants of the Prophet Mohammed -- is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
From Barron's • Mar. 8, 2026
At Fort Sill, his captain made note of Nathan’s faith and vouched that he’d serve as a hospital cleric or chaplain, decently removed from enemy lines.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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.
