pastor

American  

[pas-ter, pah-ster] / ˈpæs tər, ˈpɑ stər /

noun

• pastors
  plural

1. a minister or priest in charge of a church.

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

3. Ornithology. any of various starlings, especially Sturnus roseus rosy pastor of Europe and Asia.

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verb (used with object)

1. to serve as the pastor of.

   He pastored the church here for many years.

pastor British  

/ ˈpɑːstə /

noun

1. a clergyman or priest in charge of a congregation

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

3. an archaic word for shepherd

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

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pastor Cultural  

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pastorship
  noun
• subpastor
  noun
• pastorless
  adjective
• pastorlike
  adjective
• pastorly
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pastors
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pastor

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

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Explanation

A pastor is someone with the authority to lead religious services. Pastors lead church services and help others worship. Pastor is a religious title used mostly in Christian churches. The pastor is a leader within a church who has been ordained and therefore given the authority to conduct religious services. The pastor leads Sunday mass and other types of rituals, such as funerals. Members of the congregation may seek a pastor for advice. Within a religious community, a pastor is someone respected very much.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pastor pastors

A Dallas native, Haynes has been pastor of the city’s Friendship-West Baptist Church for more than 40 years.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026

Former teacher James Talarico and pastor Adam Hamilton also talked about their faith in a way that struck a chord in Texas and Kansas respectively.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

Clad in a newsboy hat, Sonia-Wallace sees his practice as being as much about performance as the poetry, comparing his work to that of a pastor or tarot reader.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026

Here is how you might remember Carl Lentz: He was the tattooed, skinny jeans-wearing head pastor of Hillsong’s New York City church.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026

The pastor shouts, “The fight for freedom and equality for all of our children must continue until every single American is free. Until there is truth and justice for all of God’s children.”

From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

Its members included senior pastors, first ladies, evangelists, and other women with constituencies of their own that travel far in a state like Michigan.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

On long-distance buses, pastors can often be seen - and heard - preaching the gospel.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

I remember helping organize a food bank with several other pastors in the inner city on the Eastern seaboard.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026

Ren insisted that financial giving -- used partly to pay pastors -- is part of Biblical teaching practised by Christian churches.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

Together each summer, Mama Lessie and I worked at the vacation Bible schools in Granddaddy’s two churches, as well as other churches that had only occasional guest pastors and no full-time pastors.

From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry

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Related Words

• cleric
• minister
• preacher
• priest
• rector
• vicar

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