1
: a clergyperson in charge of a chapel
2
: a clergyperson officially attached to a branch of the military, to an institution, or to a family or court
3
: a person chosen to conduct religious exercises (as at a meeting of a club or society)
4
: a clergyperson appointed to assist a bishop (as at a liturgical function)
Examples of chaplain in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Other sites that showed La Guardia as a Grandview police chaplain also were taken down after the allegations surfaced — including the Grandview Police Department’s chaplain site, which had photos and bios of its chaplains, with La Guardia described as a head chaplain.
—
Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 5 Mar. 2025
In Lucas Hnath’s play Dana H. the central character, Dana Higginbotham, a psych ward chaplain, recounts the devastating ordeal of being kidnapped by one of her patients for five months.
—Jeryl Brunner, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2025
Dammers was born in 1955 in Tamil Nadu, where his father, Horace, served as a chaplain at a missionary school.
—Ian Penman, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025
Rahman, a criminal justice professor at the Community College of Philadelphia, formerly worked for the city's Department of Prisons and the Sheriff's Office, and is a Philly police chaplain.
—Isaac Avilucea, Axios, 7 Mar. 2025
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Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 5 Mar. 2025
In Lucas Hnath’s play Dana H. the central character, Dana Higginbotham, a psych ward chaplain, recounts the devastating ordeal of being kidnapped by one of her patients for five months.
—Jeryl Brunner, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2025
Dammers was born in 1955 in Tamil Nadu, where his father, Horace, served as a chaplain at a missionary school.
—Ian Penman, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025
Rahman, a criminal justice professor at the Community College of Philadelphia, formerly worked for the city's Department of Prisons and the Sheriff's Office, and is a Philly police chaplain.
—Isaac Avilucea, Axios, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chaplain
Cite this Entry
“Chaplain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chaplain. Accessed 29 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
chaplain
noun
chap·lain
ˈchap-lən 
1
: a member of the clergy officially attached to a special group (as the army)
2
: a person chosen to conduct religious exercises (as for a club)
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