clerisy

[ kler-uh-see ]

noun

1. learned persons as a class; literati; intelligentsia.

Word History and Origins

Origin of clerisy¹

1818; < German Klerisei clergy < Medieval Latin clēricia, equivalent to clēric ( us ) cleric + -ia -ia; introduced by S.T. Coleridge

Example Sentences

It also has come under increased attack from among the ranks of the clerisy.

From The Daily Beast

The Clerisy operates on very different principles than its rival power brokers, the oligarchs of finance, technology or energy.

From The Daily Beast

Energy marks the clearest demarcating issues between the plutocrats and the Clerisy.

From The Daily Beast

Much of the U.S. is struggling, but the Clerisy has thrived.

From The Daily Beast

In contrast, the clerisy has little needed for the basically educated, but only an approving claque and faithful servants.

From The Daily Beast

They will scorn him for pronouncing that a 'natural clerisy' is 'an essential element of a rightly constituted nation.'

From Project Gutenberg