high priest

American  

noun

1. a chief priest.

2. Judaism. (from Aaronic times to about the 1st century a.d.) the priest ranking above all other priests and the only one permitted to enter the holy of holies.

3. Informal. a person in a high position of power or influence, especially one who is revered as a preeminent authority or interpreter.

   the high priest of the young painters.

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high priest British  

noun

1. Judaism the priest of highest rank who alone was permitted to enter the holy of holies of the tabernacle and Temple

2. Mormon Church a priest of the order of Melchizedek priesthood

3. Also (feminine): high priestess.  the head of a group or cult

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• high priesthood
  noun

Etymology

Origin of high priest

1350–1400; Middle English heiye prest

Example Sentences

Organized by MoMA’s Ann Temkin and Michelle Kuo and Philadelphia’s Matthew Affron, “Marcel Duchamp” functions as a multi-museum-sanctioned liturgy—the canonization of contemporary art’s high priest, along with his orthodoxy.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026

Suddenly, Jackson’s career was kicked into the stratosphere and Jones was regarded as the high priest of pop music.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 4, 2024

In Ga culture, the selection of chiefs, high priests and wives of the high priest is believed to be a spiritual process.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2024

A few years before, in 1984, my church took a busload of kids to see Mike Warnke, a former Satanist high priest who had converted to Christianity.

From Salon • Oct. 21, 2023

I can’t think of anything more depressing than to be an Egyptian high priest on display next to a set of vintage wagon wheels and a two-headed chicken.

From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven