parsonage
Americannoun
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the residence of a member of the clergy, as provided by the parish or church.
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English Ecclesiastical Law. the benefice of a parson.
noun
Etymology
Origin of parsonage
1250–1300; Middle English personage < Anglo-French, equivalent to Medieval Latin persōnāticum benefice. See parson, -age
Explanation
Parsonage is a somewhat old-fashioned term for the housing a church provides to its clergy. The priest of a church in the English countryside might live in a nearby parsonage. Parsonage literally means "house for a parson," and a parson is the member of the clergy, mainly in the British Anglican church, although Lutherans often use this terminology too. Other names for a parsonage include rectory, clergy house, or vicarage. One of the perks of being a priest in a small, rural church would be getting to live in a charming parsonage.
Vocabulary lists containing parsonage
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.
As do the moors that stretch behind the parsonage.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
The parsonage between the village and the moors where the Brontes lived with their clergyman father and brother, Branwell, is now a museum dedicated to their memory.
From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026
She also went to his church and the youth club he ran from the parsonage where he lived in Reigate.
From BBC ● Feb. 17, 2026
It begins in a country parsonage, moves through social insecurity to final productive years in a cottage Austen shared with a beloved sister, mother and close friend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Four more groups came by, one after another, laughing as they passed by the parsonage.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
