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Synonyms

padre

American  
[pah-drey, -dree, pah-thre, pah-dre] / ˈpɑ dreɪ, -dri, ˈpɑ ðrɛ, ˈpɑ drɛ /

noun

  • padres,
    plural
  • padri
    plural
  1. father (used especially in addressing or referring to a priest or member of the clergy).

  2. a chaplain in military or naval service.


padre British  
/ ˈpɑːdrɪ /

noun

  1. father: used to address or refer to a clergyman, esp a priest

  2. a chaplain to the armed forces

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of padre

1575–85; < Spanish, Portuguese, Italian: father < Latin pater

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.

See Examples For:

He believes his bosses found out about his sexuality after he told a padre - a chaplain in the armed forces - that he was bisexual.

From BBC Feb. 19, 2024

At the Met as Idamante — another trouser role — she found clear paths between soft, somber tones and quicksilver intensity, her “Il padre adorato” commanding yet sweet, crystal clear and diamond sharp.

From Washington Post Oct. 13, 2022

And at the end, when she dies, she says, “Mio padre, addio!”

From New York Times Jan. 6, 2022

“Come to my tent,” the padre advised, saying “the homies” had pitched him temporary quarters, and one of them observed that it “feels like Afghanistan in here.”

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 8, 2020

The padre grabbed a shovel and lit into the floor like a hound going after a rabbit.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

The Mexican fan palm, supposedly brought here by the mission-building padres to supply Palm Sunday foliage, can grow taller, maybe 10 stories, and skinnier, and can dip and sway camera-readily in the wind.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 20, 2025

The Valencia orange came here with the Spanish padres, the seeds planted in the San Gabriel mission garden around 1804.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 22, 2024

Brought to the New World by the Spanish padres, the pomegranate is a curious and beautiful fruit, an ancient symbol of birth and eternal life.

From New York Times Oct. 5, 2012

I want it to hold the romance of the Pilgrim fathers … the romance of the Spanish conquistadores and of the French padres.

From Slate Jun. 30, 2012

There were two padres, one sitting and talking to a man lying on his side, the other praying by a shape under a blanket.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

The stewards, most of whom understood a few words of English, readily grasped the fact that the padri was asking for help in a situation which they well knew to be desperate.

From The Captain of the Kansas by Louis Tracy

There!--this has done more to make me believe in a Providence than all the preaching of all the padri of Italy!

From The Wing-and-Wing Le Feu-Follet by James Fenimore Cooper

Santa Maria!—what is it they are saying about Fra Paolo finding the die for making money that the padri left behind?

From A Golden Book of Venice by Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull

We shook hands with our smiling friends among the padri, took leave of the archbishop, and then visited the studio of Padre Alessio, who had just finished a faithful and spirited portrait of monsignore.

From Venetian Life by William Dean Howells

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