Jesuit

[ jezh-oo-it, jez-oo-, jez-yoo- ]

noun

1. a member of a Roman Catholic religious order Society of Jesus founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534.
2. (often lowercase) a crafty, intriguing, or equivocating person: so called in allusion to the methods ascribed to the order by its opponents.

adjective

1. of or relating to Jesuits or Jesuitism.

Jesuit

/ ˈdʒɛzjʊɪt /

noun

1. a member of a Roman Catholic religious order (the Society of Jesus ) founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola in 1534 with the aims of defending the papacy and Catholicism against the Reformation and to undertake missionary work among the heathen
2. informal.
   sometimes not capital a person given to subtle and equivocating arguments; casuist

Derived Forms

• Jesuˈitically, adverb
• ˌJesuˈitic, adjective

Other Words From

• an·ti-Jes·u·it noun adjective
• pro-Jes·u·it noun adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Jesuit¹

1550–60; < New Latin Jēsuita, equivalent to Latin Jēsu ( s ) + -ita -ite ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of Jesuit¹

C16: from New Latin Jēsuita, from Late Latin Jēsus + -ita -ite ¹

Example Sentences

A Jesuit order in Brazil ran a similar school for children of the Manoki community, again prohibiting them from speaking their native language.

From Ozy

As journalist Rachel Swarns recounted in a Twitter thread last March, she received an email in 2016 from a source detailing how Jesuit priests had sold 272 people in 1838 to pay off debts and save Georgetown University from financial ruin.

From Ozy

In 2015, Georgetown University stripped from two buildings the names of early school presidents, both Jesuit priests, who had orchestrated the sale of enslaved people in 1838 to help the struggling school pay off debts.

From Washington Post

In 2016, reporter Rachel Swarns received a tip that Jesuit priests sold 272 people in 1838 to save Georgetown University … a historical fact that, while known to scholars, had received little attention.

From Ozy

He excelled in football and basketball in high school and received an athletic scholarship to the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit college whose head basketball coach, Phil Woolpert, later entered the Hall of Fame.

From Washington Post

At times, Mario Cuomo seemed to have the humility of a Jesuit and the goals of an emperor.

From The Daily Beast

Not one Argentine Jesuit lost his life during the dirty war, and he managed to save dozens of people.

From The Daily Beast

“We get to live and work with a group of Jesuit scientists who take both science and faith very seriously,” he writes.

From The Daily Beast

One of those was a Jesuit, like the pope, named Rutilio Grande.

From The Daily Beast

Francis told reporters that he has not had a true vacation since 1975 when he went to Buenos Aires with the Jesuit community.

From The Daily Beast

More laborers are needed for the Jesuit missions, as well as for those conducted by the friars.

From Project Gutenberg

The experience of the Jesuit fathers at Port Royal is related at length, from their own point of view.

From Project Gutenberg

Then follows an account of the life of the Jesuit prisoners, in Virginia and England.

From Project Gutenberg

The conclusion is reached that, despite these drawbacks, the Jesuit mission in Canada has made a hopeful beginning.

From Project Gutenberg

The Jesuit expatiated on the curse of heaven, which now manifested itself on the head of the Duke in every relation of his life.

From Project Gutenberg