Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Ecclesiastical.
  • noun A minister or priest; a cleric.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Ecclesiastical; specifically, pertaining to the ministry or administration of the church.
  • noun In early usage, a member of the orthodox church, as distinguished from Jews, pagans, infidels, and heretics.
  • noun One holding an office in the Christian ministry, or otherwise officially consecrated to the service of the church: usually restricted to those connected with an episcopate, and in the middle ages to subordinate officials.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the church. See ecclesiastical.
  • noun A person in holy orders, or consecrated to the service of the church and the ministry of religion; a clergyman; a priest.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the church; ecclesiastical.
  • noun One who adheres to a church-based philosophy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or associated with a church (especially a Christian Church)
  • noun a clergyman or other person in religious orders

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin ecclēsiasticus, from Greek ekklēsiastikos, from ekklēsiastēs, a member of the ecclesia; see Ecclesiastes.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ecclesia ("church"), originally from Greek ἐκκλησία ("church")

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