mendicant
begging; practicing begging; living on alms.
pertaining to or characteristic of a beggar.
a person who lives by begging; beggar.
a member of any of several orders of friars that originally forbade ownership of property, subsisting mostly on alms.
Origin of mendicant
1Other words from mendicant
- non·men·di·cant, adjective
Words Nearby mendicant
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use mendicant in a sentence
He has been on intimate terms with czar and serf, he has met millionaire and mendicant, he has hobnobbed with prince and pauper.
Comrade Kropotkin | Victor RobinsonIn a way of speaking, this mendicant of Coney Island was perhaps of this class.
From Place to Place | Irvin S. CobbThey probably despised her already; how much more they would despise her in the character of a mendicant!
Tess of the d'Urbervilles | Thomas HardyI must go there, if I clothe myself in the rags of a mendicant lama and beg my way from one black tent to another.
Trans-Himalaya, Vol. 2 (of 2) | Sven HedinIn a few days the town of Brussels swarmed with ash-gray garments such as were usually worn by mendicant friars and penitents.
The Revolt of The Netherlands, Complete | Friedrich Schiller
British Dictionary definitions for mendicant
/ (ˈmɛndɪkənt) /
begging
(of a member of a religious order) dependent on alms for sustenance: mendicant friars
characteristic of a beggar
a mendicant friar
a less common word for beggar
Origin of mendicant
1Derived forms of mendicant
- mendicancy or mendicity (mɛnˈdɪsɪtɪ), noun
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
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