| / English Dictionary |
REVEREND
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A title of respect for a clergyman
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("Reverend" is a kind of...):
form of address; title; title of respect (an identifying appellation signifying status or function: e.g. 'Mr.' or 'General')
Sense 2
Meaning:
A member of the clergy and a spiritual leader of the Christian Church
Synonyms:
clergyman; man of the cloth; reverend
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("reverend" is a kind of...):
spiritual leader (a leader in religious or sacred affairs)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reverend"):
vicar ((Episcopal Church) a clergyman in charge of a chapel)
vicar ((Church of England) a clergyman appointed to act as priest of a parish)
subdeacon (a clergyman an order below deacon; one of the Holy Orders in the unreformed western Christian church and the eastern Catholic Churches but now suppressed in the Roman Catholic Church)
shepherd (a clergyman who watches over a group of people)
priest (a clergyman in Christian churches who has the authority to perform or administer various religious rites; one of the Holy Orders)
preacher; preacher man; sermoniser; sermonizer (someone whose occupation is preaching the gospel)
postulator ((Roman Catholic Church) someone who proposes or pleads for a candidate for beatification or canonization)
ordinary (a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death)
ordinand (a person being ordained)
officiant (a clergyman who officiates at a religious ceremony or service)
lector; reader (someone who reads the lessons in a church service; someone ordained in a minor order of the Roman Catholic Church)
doorkeeper; ostiarius; ostiary (the lowest of the minor Holy Orders in the unreformed Western Church but now suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church)
domine; dominee; dominie; dominus (a clergyman; especially a settled minister or parson)
deacon (a cleric ranking just below a priest in Christian churches; one of the Holy Orders)
curate; minister; minister of religion; parson; pastor; rector (a person authorized to conduct religious worship)
churchman; cleric; divine; ecclesiastic (a clergyman or other person in religious orders)
chaplain (a clergyman ministering to some institution)
archdeacon ((Anglican Church) an ecclesiastical dignitary usually ranking just below a bishop)
anagnost (a cleric in the minor orders of the Eastern Orthodox Church who reads the lessons aloud in the liturgy (analogous to the lector in the Roman Catholic Church))
acolyte (someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church but not in the Anglican Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches)
Instance hyponyms:
John Wesley; Wesley (English clergyman and founder of Methodism (1703-1791))
King; Martin Luther King; Martin Luther King Jr. (United States charismatic civil rights leader and Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of Blacks (1929-1968))
Charles Wesley; Wesley (English clergyman and brother of John Wesley who wrote many hymns (1707-1788))
Roger Williams; Williams (English clergyman and colonist who was expelled from Massachusetts for criticizing Puritanism; he founded Providence in 1636 and obtained a royal charter for Rhode Island in 1663 (1603-1683))
John Keble; Keble (English clergyman who (with John Henry Newman and Edward Pusey) founded the Oxford movement (1792-1866))
Donne; John Donne (English clergyman and metaphysical poet celebrated as a preacher (1572-1631))
Beecher; Henry Ward Beecher (United States clergyman who was a leader for the abolition of slavery (1813-1887))
Holonyms ("reverend" is a member of...):
clergy (in Christianity, clergymen collectively (as distinguished from the laity))
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Worthy of adoration or reverence
Synonyms:
reverend; sublime
Classified under:
Similar:
sacred (concerned with religion or religious purposes)
Context examples:
It was occasioned, I suppose, by the reverend nature of respectability in the abstract, but I felt particularly young in this man's presence.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Well! I also pointed out, that my most earnest desire was, to be useful to the family; and that if I got on in the world, and anything should happen to him—I refer to the Reverend Horace— “I understand,” said I. —Or to Mrs. Crewler—it would be the utmost gratification of my wishes, to be a parent to the girls.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
There's the Reverend Horace promoted to that living at four hundred and fifty pounds a year; there are our two boys receiving the very best education, and distinguishing themselves as steady scholars and good fellows; there are three of the girls married very comfortably; there are three more living with us; there are three more keeping house for the Reverend Horace since Mrs. Crewler's decease; and all of them happy.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
You see, my dear Copperfield, falling again into the low confidential tone, after I had delivered my argument in DOE dem. JIPES versus WIGZIELL, which did me great service with the profession, I went down into Devonshire, and had some serious conversation in private with the Reverend Horace.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I then proposed to the Reverend Horace—who is a most excellent clergyman, Copperfield, and ought to be a Bishop; or at least ought to have enough to live upon, without pinching himself—that if I could turn the corner, say of two hundred and fifty pounds, in one year; and could see my way pretty clearly to that, or something better, next year; and could plainly furnish a little place like this, besides; then, and in that case, Sophy and I should be united.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
His face was so very mild and pleasant, and had something so reverend in it, though it was hale and hearty, that I was not sure but that he was having a good-humoured jest with me.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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