cleric

Borrowed from Late Latin clēricus, from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós), from κλῆρος (klêros, “a casting lots, drawing lots”). Many officers at Athens obtained their offices by lot, as opposed to election (Liddell and Scott). Doublet of clerk.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈklɛɹɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪk

cleric (plural clerics)

2. A member of a clergy.

   Synonyms: clergymember, clergyperson

   Hyponyms: clergyman, clergywoman; (Christian) bishop, cardinal, churchman, curate, deacon, ecclesiastic, minister, parson, pastor, pope, preacher, prelate, presbyter, priest, rector, reverend, vicar; (Jewish) rabbi, (Muslim) imam, caliph, qadi, mufti, mullah, muezzin

   Holonym: clergy

3. (roleplaying games) A spellcaster class that receives their spells (especially healing) from their deity.

• clerical
• clerisy
• clerk

• ⇒ Welsh: clerigwr

cleric (not comparable)

1. (now uncommon) Of or pertaining to the clergy.

   Synonym: clerical

• “cleric, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022.

• “cleric”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “cleric”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “cleric”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Circle, circle

Borrowed from Latin clericus.

cleric m (plural clerici)

1. cleric