lay reader
Americannoun
noun
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Church of England a person licensed by a bishop to conduct religious services other than the Eucharist
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RC Church a layman chosen from among the congregation to read the epistle at Mass and sometimes other prayers
Etymology
Origin of lay reader
First recorded in 1745–55
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.
For the historian or biographer, such details are inescapably important; for the lay reader, they can become wearisome.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
Graeber had mastered the art of pulling new research out of his home field and contextualizing it for the lay reader.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 21, 2023
Joy Gambardella, a lay reader at the city’s Emmanuel Church, said Al Swealmeen had been a “committed Christian”.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 17, 2021
It demands of the lay reader an ability to compartmentalize that may be difficult for some to maintain.
From Slate • Oct. 17, 2020
I had discarded an ecclesiastical title I possessed but never used; I became a lay reader in the Episcopal Church—the church of my youth—the church in which I was baptized and confirmed.
From From the Bottom Up The Life Story of Alexander Irvine by Irvine, Alexander
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.