parish
Americannoun
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an ecclesiastical district having its own church and member of the clergy.
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a local church with its field of activity.
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(in Louisiana) a county.
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the people of an ecclesiastical or civil parish.
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Curling. house.
idioms
noun
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a subdivision of a diocese, having its own church and a clergyman
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the churchgoers of such a subdivision
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(in England and, formerly, Wales) the smallest unit of local government in rural areas
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(in Louisiana) a unit of local government corresponding to a county in other states of the US
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the people living in a parish
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history receiving parochial relief
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of parish
1250–1300; Middle English, variant of parosshe < Middle French paroisse < Late Latin parochia, alteration of paroecia < Late Greek paroikía, derivative of Greek pároikos neighbor, (in Christian usage) sojourner ( see paroicous); see -ia
Explanation
A parish is a local church community that has one main church and one pastor. Parish members do more than just attend church. They organize community activities, social events, and — very important — coffee and donuts on Sunday mornings. A parish is technically a piece of land. It’s a section of a diocese that has the right number of churchgoers to have its own church. But when you refer to a parish, you’re usually talking about more than the space itself. You're describing the people who attend the church, as well as the church property. So if someone says, "Our parish is thriving," it means there's a full congregation and enough funds to maintain the church in good condition.
Vocabulary lists containing parish
World Religions
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My Brother Sam is Dead
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Purple Hibiscus
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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.
Tens of thousands of Catholics flocked to a small parish in the Mekong Delta on Thursday for the first beatification ceremony held on Vietnamese soil.
From Barron's • Jul. 2, 2026
But as I talked to mourners at Sayre’s funeral at his home parish of St. Cecilia Church in Tustin, Calif., on Monday, I realized that his fight for justice manifested in many other ways.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 17, 2026
The other is its parish, the spiritual center of this Cambridgeshire hamlet and a place where community members weave themselves in each other’s lives while supporting its rectors.
From Salon • Jun. 16, 2026
Meta also separately made a $22.4 million tax payment to the parish in May, it said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026
Tormented by the certainty that he was his wife’s brother, Aureliano ran out to the parish house to search through the moldy and moth-eaten archives for some clue to his parentage.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
