priestcraft

American  

[preest-kraft, -krahft] / ˈpristˌkræft, -ˌkrɑft /

noun

1. the training, knowledge, and abilities necessary to a priest.

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priestcraft British  

/ ˈpriːstˌkrɑːft /

noun

1. the art and skills involved in the work of a priest

2. derogatory the influence of priests upon politics or the use by them of secular power

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Etymology

Origin of priestcraft

First recorded in 1475–85; priest + craft

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

priestcraft

In the 1820s and '30s, there was the Workingmen's Movement, pitted against the evils of "kingcraft, priestcraft and lawyercraft."

From Time Magazine Archive

It could scarcely be denied that the Schoolmasterdom of England was a priestcraft as powerful and arrogant as any which had ever been.

From Sinister Street, vol. 2 by MacKenzie, Compton

Above there were the priests, who had always from the dawn of time been of the priestcraft, being born a notch lower than the gods themselves, who were the golden globes.

From The Buttoned Sky by Reynard, Geoff St.

I shall give two instances of predictions which came under my own observation, and which will show how much the same priestcraft has been in all times.

From Old New Zealand: being Incidents of Native Customs and Character in the Old Times by 'A Pakeha Maori'

To attack Protestant or Catholic orthodoxy, to attack priestcraft, was then to make an underhand attack upon the Government itself.

From Revolution and Counter-Revolution or, Germany in 1848 by Marx, Karl