as in priests
a person specially trained and authorized to conduct religious services in a Christian church
clerics were sharply divided on the issue of whether the war was morally justified
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Recent Examples of clerics
Perhaps the most sensitive matter is Iran, a nation of nasty clerics and old-time belligerents that declared war on America and Israel 47 years ago.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 24 Apr. 2026
Analysts and clerics are keen to stress the overall importance of this visit to the continent.
—Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 12 Apr. 2026
Leo spoke during a gathering of top bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, an Eastern Rite Catholic church whose clerics are in Rome to elect a new patriarch.
—Brian Dakss, CBS News, 11 Apr. 2026
Leo spoke during a gathering of top bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, an Eastern Rite Catholic church whose clerics are in Rome to elect a new patriarch.
—Nbc News, NBC news, 10 Apr. 2026
The relative success of the war elevated the Revolutionary Guard from a small, street-level militia, initially created to protect Khomeini and the other clerics at the forefront of the Islamic Revolution, into the symbolic defenders of the theocracy.
—Sudarsan Raghavan, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2026
Officially, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the military force sworn to protect Iran’s ruling clerics.
—The Week Us, TheWeek, 6 Apr. 2026
Ramadan and Eid is a time of joy for Muslims, but this year, the holiday mood was dampened, local clerics said.
—Niraj Warikoo, Freep.com, 20 Mar. 2026
The faction that ultimately took power—activists who put their faith in Shiite clerics—promptly established a regime committed to preventing such mobilization from ever happening again.
—Karl Vick, Time, 16 Mar. 2026
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 24 Apr. 2026
Analysts and clerics are keen to stress the overall importance of this visit to the continent.
—Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 12 Apr. 2026
Leo spoke during a gathering of top bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, an Eastern Rite Catholic church whose clerics are in Rome to elect a new patriarch.
—Brian Dakss, CBS News, 11 Apr. 2026
Leo spoke during a gathering of top bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, an Eastern Rite Catholic church whose clerics are in Rome to elect a new patriarch.
—Nbc News, NBC news, 10 Apr. 2026
The relative success of the war elevated the Revolutionary Guard from a small, street-level militia, initially created to protect Khomeini and the other clerics at the forefront of the Islamic Revolution, into the symbolic defenders of the theocracy.
—Sudarsan Raghavan, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2026
Officially, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the military force sworn to protect Iran’s ruling clerics.
—The Week Us, TheWeek, 6 Apr. 2026
Ramadan and Eid is a time of joy for Muslims, but this year, the holiday mood was dampened, local clerics said.
—Niraj Warikoo, Freep.com, 20 Mar. 2026
The faction that ultimately took power—activists who put their faith in Shiite clerics—promptly established a regime committed to preventing such mobilization from ever happening again.
—Karl Vick, Time, 16 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clerics
Noun
-
The Hippocratic doctors vigorously denounced the religious healers of the day, such as the priests toiling in the temple of Asclepius.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
-
The first female Anglican priests were ordained in 1994, its first female bishop in 2015, and now Mullally as the first archbishop of Canterbury.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Dollison was a regular contributor to the Church of Christ publication The Living Message, which credited him as being a major inspiration for many influential Arkansas Church of Christ preachers.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Until then, smuggling weed had been a grand adventure, an escape from a society that had just thrown Prager’s generation into a meat grinder in Vietnam, a repudiation of the crooked politicians and backward preachers and greedy capitalists who were running the world.—
Jack Crosbie,
Rolling Stone,
17 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Clerics.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clerics. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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