priestess
Americannoun
Gender
See -ess.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of priestess
Explanation
A priestess is a female religious figure. In ancient Greece, a priestess often dressed in the style of a goddess, wearing white robes and carrying a long staff. The word priestess is a feminine version of priest, which stems from the Old English prēost and its Greek root, presbyteros, "an elder." While hundreds of years ago a priestess was simply a female priest, today's Christians use priest whether they're talking about a man or a woman. The word priestess is used for ancient religions and occasionally pagan or Wiccan religious leaders.
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.
See Examples For:
Earlier it was announced that Mosaku had received an Oscar supporting actress nomination for her role as Hoodoo priestess Annie in Sinners.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026
Warren Buffett once called him a Cassandra—the mythological Trojan priestess whose grim prophecies were ignored.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
The ghost tours in New Orleans are borderline legendary, with popular offerings focusing on the supernatural, New Orleans’ “Casket Girls,” and on the origins of Marie Laveau’s rise to notoriety as a voodoo priestess.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2025
Cassandra A ancient Trojan priestess who was fated to be a prophet but never believed, most famously about Greek troops hiding inside the Trojan Horse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
It is plain from the rest of the story that the priestess knew what Eurystheus was like and that he would beyond question purge Hercules thoroughly.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Millennial feminism, Helen Lewis writes in the Atlantic, eventually revealed “the gap between what its high priestesses demanded and what they were able to endure themselves.”
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
But a rainy weather forecast means the sun's rays will not be able to light the parabolic mirror used by actresses in the garb of ancient priestesses.
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
On the southwestern outskirts of Tehran Tuesday evening, several Zoroastrian priests and priestesses, dressed in white from head-to-toe to symbolize purity, led young followers to light a giant bonfire in a joyful ceremony.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
Under the Greeks, the priestesses adopted Artemis Caryatis, moon goddess of the wilderness, twin sister to Apollo, the sun god.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2023
Archaic; from the ecstatic priestesses of Thakra, worshippers of the seraphim, whose ritual dance expressed the dualism of beauty and terror.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
