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disciple

[dih-sahy-puh l]
noun
  1. Religion.
    1. one of the 12 personal followers of Christ.
    2. one of the 70 followers sent forth by Christ. Luke 10:1.
    3. any other professed follower of Christ in His lifetime.
  2. any follower of Christ.
  3. (initial capital letter) a member of the Disciples of Christ.
  4. a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower: a disciple of Freud.
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verb (used with object), dis·ci·pled, dis·ci·pling.
  1. Archaic. to convert into a disciple.
  2. Obsolete. to teach; train.
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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

4. See pupil1.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for discipleship

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • Discipleship in which there is no death can never be truly alive.

  • 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
  1. a follower of the doctrines of a teacher or a school of thought
  2. one of the personal followers of Christ (including his 12 apostles) during his earthly life
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Derived Formsdiscipleship, noundiscipular (dɪˈsɪpjʊlə), adjective

Word Origin

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

n.

1540s, from disciple + -ship.

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disciple

n.

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).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper