high priest
Americannoun
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a chief priest.
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Judaism. (from Aaronic times to about the 1st century a.d.) the priest ranking above all other priests and the only one permitted to enter the holy of holies.
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Informal. a person in a high position of power or influence, especially one who is revered as a preeminent authority or interpreter.
the high priest of the young painters.
noun
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Judaism the priest of highest rank who alone was permitted to enter the holy of holies of the tabernacle and Temple
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Mormon Church a priest of the order of Melchizedek priesthood
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Also (feminine): high priestess. the head of a group or cult
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of high priest
1350–1400; Middle English heiye prest
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.
Guardiola might have been the high priest of beautiful soccer, but as the British papers reminded him, he was now in the toughest league in the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
Suddenly, Jackson’s career was kicked into the stratosphere and Jones was regarded as the high priest of pop music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2024
In Ga culture, the selection of chiefs, high priests and wives of the high priest is believed to be a spiritual process.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2024
A few years before, in 1984, my church took a busload of kids to see Mike Warnke, a former Satanist high priest who had converted to Christianity.
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2023
Toby presided again as the high priest, and his ceremony was almost exactly the same as the day before.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
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.
