rectory
Americannoun
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rectories
plural
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a rector's house; parsonage.
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British. a benefice held by a rector.
noun
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the official house of a rector
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Church of England the office and benefice of a rector
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of rectory
1530–40; < Medieval Latin rēctōria, equivalent to Latin rēctōr- (stem of rēctor ) rector + -ia -y 3
Explanation
A rectory is the housing that a church organization provides for a minister or priest to live in. Most rectories are conveniently close to the church. The official name of a minister who lives in a rectory is a rector, a clergy member of either the Episcopal, Catholic, or Anglican churches. Some universities, particularly in Scotland, have academic positions with the name rector, and they are also sometimes provided with rectories to live in. In Latin, rector means "ruler or governor," from regere, "to rule or guide."
Vocabulary lists containing rectory
The Poet X
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"St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" by Karen Russell
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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
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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:
In the rectory dining room before the vigil, the burly 85-year-old priest said he wasn’t fazed that his working-class parish has weathered so much since arriving in 1983.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Redbird – Set inside the former rectory of Vibiana, Redbird is a modern American restaurant built for sharing.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2026
Alfred Tennyson was born in 1809 in a rectory in Lincolnshire, one of 11 children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
Since its construction in 1862, the Essex rectory had been the site of alleged hauntings.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
Malcolm finally told her that if she didn’t get help, he would go and live with That Bastard Father Anthony at the rectory of Saint Therese’s.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Her novels pump in boosts of old-world elegance via jaunts to Italy or roomy seaside rectories; her white characters inhabit the world of wine-swirlers and are often impoverished by choice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
The average age of a Catholic priest in Ireland today is 70, as the rectories begin to resemble retirement homes.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 18, 2018
At Mr Stanley's parish in New Town and Lenah Valley, four buildings including a church and two rectories have been earmarked for sale.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2018
Jane Austen, Tennyson, and the Brontë sisters were all the product of rectories and parsonages.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 1, 2015
All forty churches and eleven rectories that make up the diocese give food and money for the effort.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
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.
