layman

[ ley-muh n ]

/ ˈleɪ mən /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR layman ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural lay·men.

a person who is not a member of the clergy; one of the laity.

a person who is not a member of a given profession, as law or medicine.

Words related to layman

parishioner, dilettante, outsider, proselyte, secular, novice, recruit, believer, member, follower, neophyte, laic, nonprofessional

Words nearby layman

layer cake, layer of rods and cones, layering, layette, laying on of hands, layman, layoff, layout, layover, laypeople, layperson

Origin of layman

Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; see origin at lay³, man¹

usage note for layman

See -man.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for laymen

Some of the stalls probably, usually but a few, may have been occupied by laymen even so early as the thirteenth century.
Wood Carvings in English Churches|Francis Bond
A band of devout republican laymen, with candles and red crosses, brought up the rear.
The Story of Florence|Edmund G. Gardner
In vain did all his advisers, Scots and English, clerics and laymen, assure him that negotiation on these terms was hopeless.
Montrose|Mowbray Morris
In 1414 a mixed tribunal of ecclesiastics and laymen was established to search out heretics and punish them.
Folkways|William Graham Sumner

To this Thursday service come persons from the ends of the earth, and ministers and laymen of various religious persuasions.
The Quiver, 11/1899|Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for laymen

layman

/ (ˈleɪmən) /

noun plural -men

a man who is not a member of the clergy

a person who does not have specialized or professional knowledge of a subjectscience for the layman

Gender-neutral form: layperson

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