Definitions

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

  • noun A woman who presides over religious rites, especially in pagan religions.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A woman who officiates in sacred rites.
  • noun The wife or concubine of a priest.

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

  • noun A woman who officiated in sacred rites among pagans.

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

  • noun A woman with religious duties and responsibilities.

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

  • noun a woman priest

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A priestess is like a minister or clergyperson, but is of the Pagan persuasion, or, more baldly, a worshiper of Nature and especially the Earth.

    Archive 2008-11-01 Alice Walker Blog Administrator 2008

  • A priestess is like a minister or clergyperson, but is of the Pagan persuasion, or, more baldly, a worshiper of Nature and especially the Earth.

    A Wedding Ceremony Alice Walker Blog Administrator 2008

  • All three books pass the Bechdel test, if we allow it to apply to female aliens: Melein, a mri priestess, is one of the key characters and she confronts other priestesses at several crucial points (notably the climax of the second book).

    Look outside! lefaym 2008

  • T PAU - after a high priestess from the planet VULCAN in the American TV series STAR TREK ...

    Boing Boing 2006

  • During the neverending arguments about women priests even the women concerned were mostly scrupulous about not using the ‘pagan’ term priestess, extraordinary misrepresentations of Jesus' followers were cited as ‘proof’ that women were not meant to be members of the clergy.

    The Templar Revelation Lynn Picknett 2004

  • During the neverending arguments about women priests even the women concerned were mostly scrupulous about not using the ‘pagan’ term priestess, extraordinary misrepresentations of Jesus' followers were cited as ‘proof’ that women were not meant to be members of the clergy.

    The Templar Revelation Lynn Picknett 2004

  • Kusama, 82, is known as the 'priestess of polka dots' and her career is being celebrated in a major retrospective at Tate Modern.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph Anita Singh 2012

  • Kusama, 82, is known as the 'priestess of polka dots' and her career is being celebrated in a major retrospective at Tate Modern.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph Anita Singh 2012

  • The rest of us, not on the rag, had to sit inside the tarps while our priestess (we also called her a "priestess" -- I can hardly believe it as I write) poured Colorado River water on heated rocks, and some one we called "Miss Manners" beat a drum.

    E. Jean Carroll: Sweat Lodges Are Sitting Bull 2009

  • 7: 15 AM — Golden Dawn (1930) An adventurer falls for a woman destined to be the virgin priestess for an African tribe.

    2005 December : Scrubbles.net 2005

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