mother superior

noun

plural

mother superiors, mothers superior 

1. the head of a Christian religious community for women.

mother superior

noun

1. the head of a community of nuns

Word History and Origins

Origin of mother superior¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Emily Watson plays the manipulative mother superior who slips Bill an envelope of cash to buy his complicity.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She’s barely there, making a couple of brief appearances as the nuns’ mother superior back in Calcutta, but she’s as tough and vivid as ever.

Read more on New York Times

About three miles from downtown Galveston, 93 children lived at St. Mary’s Orphanage with 10 nuns, including Sister M. Camillus Tracy, the mother superior.

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The mother superior and several nuns have left and armed guards are patrolling the site.

Read more on BBC

One convent said she had even pretended to be a mother superior – the head of a female religious community.

Read more on The Guardian