disciple

[dih-sahy-puh l]

noun

Religion.

one of the 12 personal followers of Christ.
one of the 70 followers sent forth by Christ. Luke 10:1.
any other professed follower of Christ in His lifetime.

any follower of Christ.

(initial capital letter) a member of the Disciples of Christ.

a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower: a disciple of Freud.

verb (used with object), dis·ci·pled, dis·ci·pling.

Archaic. to convert into a disciple.

Obsolete. to teach; train.

Origin of disciple

before 900; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin discipulus, equivalent to dis- dis-¹ + -cip(ere), combining form of capere to take + -ulus -ule; replacing Middle English deciple < Anglo-French de(s)ciple; replacing Old English discipul < Latin, as above

Related formsdis·ci·ple·like, adjectivedis·ci·ple·ship, noun

Synonyms for disciple

4. See pupil¹.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for discipleship

Historical Examples of discipleship

Discipleship does not hold out long with the truly understanding.
Adventures in the Arts
Marsden Hartley
Our church can be a means of fulfilling our discipleship, but it can also be an obstacle to it.
Herein is Love
Reuel L. Howe
From 1554 to 1560, abandoning his Pindarism, he was in discipleship to Anacreon1 and Horace.
A History of French Literature
Edward Dowden
Discipleship in which there is no death can never be truly alive.
My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year
John Henry Jowett
That the gospel does make these a condition of discipleship is plain to every mind.
Bible Emblems
Edward E. Seelye

British Dictionary definitions for discipleship

disciple

noun

a follower of the doctrines of a teacher or a school of thought

one of the personal followers of Christ (including his 12 apostles) during his earthly life

Derived Formsdiscipleship, noundiscipular (dɪˈsɪpjʊlə), adjective

Word Origin for disciple

Old English discipul, from Latin discipulus pupil, from discere to learn

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 discipleship

1540s, from disciple + -ship.

disciple

Old English discipul (fem. discipula), Biblical borrowing from Latin discipulus "pupil, student, follower," said to be from discere "to learn" [OED, Watkins], from a reduplicated form of PIE root *dek- "to take, accept" (see decent).

But according to Barnhart and Klein, from a lost compound *discipere "to grasp intellectually, analyze thoroughly," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + capere "to take, take hold of" (see capable). Cf. Latin capulus "handle" from capere. Sometimes glossed in Old English by þegn (see thane).