pastor

[ pas-ter, pah-ster ]
See synonyms for pastor on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a minister or priest in charge of a church.

  2. a person having spiritual care of a number of persons.

  1. Ornithology. any of various starlings, especially Sturnus roseus(rosy pastor ) of Europe and Asia.

verb (used with object)
  1. to serve as the pastor of: He pastored the church here for many years.

Origin of pastor

1
1325–75; <Latin pāstor shepherd, literally, feeder, equivalent to pās-, base of pāscere to put to pasture, feed + -tor-tor; replacing Middle English pastour<Anglo-French

Other words from pastor

  • pas·tor·less, adjective
  • pas·tor·like, pas·tor·ly, adjective
  • sub·pas·tor, noun

Words that may be confused with pastor

Words Nearby pastor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pastor in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for pastor

pastor

/ (ˈpɑːstə) /


noun
  1. a clergyman or priest in charge of a congregation

  2. a person who exercises spiritual guidance over a number of people

  1. an archaic word for shepherd (def. 1)

  2. Also called: rosy pastor a S Asian starling, Sturnus roseus, having glossy black head and wings and a pale pink body

Origin of pastor

1
C14: from Latin: shepherd, from pascere to feed

Derived forms of pastor

  • pastorship, noun

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

Cultural definitions for pastor

pastor

In some groups of Christians (see also Christian), the clergyman in charge of an individual congregation. The term is used this way in the Lutheran Church and Roman Catholic Church and, to a lesser extent, by Baptists and in the Protestant Episcopal Church.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.