lay reader
Americannoun
noun
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Church of England a person licensed by a bishop to conduct religious services other than the Eucharist
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RC Church a layman chosen from among the congregation to read the epistle at Mass and sometimes other prayers
Etymology
Origin of lay reader
First recorded in 1745–55
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.
For the historian or biographer, such details are inescapably important; for the lay reader, they can become wearisome.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Joy Gambardella, a lay reader at the city’s Emmanuel Church, said Al Swealmeen had been a “committed Christian”.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2021
A lay reader might not need the discourse on the proper naming of geologic epochs, but overall, it’s an excellent grounding in how fire functions, how we think about it and why that matters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2021
His book is dense with information, but Walker is adroit at presenting his findings and their implications in language accessible to the lay reader.
From New York Times ● Oct. 19, 2017
Having presented the evidence both for and against "twilight sleep," it may be of assistance to the lay reader to have placed before her the personal conclusions and working opinions of the authors.
From The Mother and Her Child by William S. Sadler
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.
