parsonage
Americannoun
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the residence of a member of the clergy, as provided by the parish or church.
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English Ecclesiastical Law. the benefice of a parson.
noun
Etymology
Origin of parsonage
1250–1300; Middle English personage < Anglo-French, equivalent to Medieval Latin persōnāticum benefice. See parson, -age
Explanation
Parsonage is a somewhat old-fashioned term for the housing a church provides to its clergy. The priest of a church in the English countryside might live in a nearby parsonage. Parsonage literally means "house for a parson," and a parson is the member of the clergy, mainly in the British Anglican church, although Lutherans often use this terminology too. Other names for a parsonage include rectory, clergy house, or vicarage. One of the perks of being a priest in a small, rural church would be getting to live in a charming parsonage.
Vocabulary lists containing parsonage
"The Red Shoes" by Hans Christian Andersen
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"The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne" by Anthony Trollope
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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.
Noel Edward Hord, the fourth of five children, was born on July 10, 1946, and grew up in a church parsonage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
She married and then died at the parsonage in 1855 at 38 of complications from her first pregnancy.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
The parsonage between the village and the moors where the Brontes lived with their clergyman father and brother, Branwell, is now a museum dedicated to their memory.
From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026
In 1820, the Brontes moved to the parsonage in Howarth, where the sisters wrote masterpieces including Emily's Wuthering Heights and Charlotte's Jane Eyre.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2023
Yes, fine, on the parsonage grounds, there also grew a yew tree.
From "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness
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.
