as in clergyman
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Recent Examples of deaconess
Then in 1964, Parks became a deaconess in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
—
Jacqueline Howard, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025
Born in a homestead just north of the D.C. border in 1930 and 1933, the brothers were raised in historic St. Phillips Baptist Church, where their father was an associate minister and their mother a deaconess.
—Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2024
The Pauline epistles contain numerous references to women who were instrumental in the leadership of the early church: Phoebe, a deaconess; Chloe; Apphia; Euodia; Nympha; Junia.
—Cressida Leyshon, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023
More recently, a Nov. 15, 2021 issue of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel noted that in 2017, Israeli archaeologists uncovered stones and mosaics memorializing Theodosia the deaconess and Gregoria the deaconess in the ruins of a 1,600-year-old basilica in Ashdod.
—Susan Degrane, chicagotribune.com, 30 Mar. 2022
In her younger years, Webb was an avid churchgoer in Baltimore, Maryland alongside her father, a deacon, and her mother, a deaconess, who met in a church choir.
—Robyn Mowatt, ELLE, 22 June 2023
Welcome to the Rehearsal Club, an artist residency and the one-year-old reincarnation of a nonprofit organization founded in 1913 by Jane Harriss Hall, an Episcopal deaconess, and Jean Greer, the daughter of New York’s Episcopal bishop.
—Joanne Kaufman, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2023
The virus also claimed the life of Shirley Miller, 70, a deaconess who assisted with baptisms and communion.
—Ray Sanchez, CNN, 18 Apr. 2020
Today, the deaconesses can again access their own cemetery and visit the graves of their sisters.
—Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2019
Jacqueline Howard, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025
Born in a homestead just north of the D.C. border in 1930 and 1933, the brothers were raised in historic St. Phillips Baptist Church, where their father was an associate minister and their mother a deaconess.
—Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2024
The Pauline epistles contain numerous references to women who were instrumental in the leadership of the early church: Phoebe, a deaconess; Chloe; Apphia; Euodia; Nympha; Junia.
—Cressida Leyshon, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023
More recently, a Nov. 15, 2021 issue of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel noted that in 2017, Israeli archaeologists uncovered stones and mosaics memorializing Theodosia the deaconess and Gregoria the deaconess in the ruins of a 1,600-year-old basilica in Ashdod.
—Susan Degrane, chicagotribune.com, 30 Mar. 2022
In her younger years, Webb was an avid churchgoer in Baltimore, Maryland alongside her father, a deacon, and her mother, a deaconess, who met in a church choir.
—Robyn Mowatt, ELLE, 22 June 2023
Welcome to the Rehearsal Club, an artist residency and the one-year-old reincarnation of a nonprofit organization founded in 1913 by Jane Harriss Hall, an Episcopal deaconess, and Jean Greer, the daughter of New York’s Episcopal bishop.
—Joanne Kaufman, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2023
The virus also claimed the life of Shirley Miller, 70, a deaconess who assisted with baptisms and communion.
—Ray Sanchez, CNN, 18 Apr. 2020
Today, the deaconesses can again access their own cemetery and visit the graves of their sisters.
—Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deaconess
Noun
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Kirchner had, a year earlier, backed sanctions for clergymen who publicly opposed the government’s human rights policies, including his decision to annul laws pardoning dictatorship-era atrocities.—
Federico Perelmuter,
The Dial,
13 Mar. 2025
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The emails, sent from Saints accounts, don’t specify which clergymen were removed from the list or why.—
Brett Martel,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Archaeologists excavating a massive tomb in Pompeii unearthed extremely rare, nearly life-size marble statues that shed new light on the power held by priestesses in the ancient city.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
5 Apr. 2025
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In her right hand, the female figure holds laurel leaves, which Roman priestesses and priests once used to purify spaces.—
Sonja Anderson,
Smithsonian Magazine,
2 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Dixon, an administrator with the Kane County Sheriff’s Office and a deacon at Second Baptist Church, is seeking a third term.—
Courier-News,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Apr. 2025
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Peter & Paul parishioners say are flatly false, including an unfounded claim that the deacon has a criminal record and was once sentenced to 30 days in jail.—
Andres Viglucci,
Miami Herald,
13 Mar. 2025
Noun
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On a recent day, village elders, the province's Roman Catholic bishop and political figures filled the benches of a reception hall, waiting to meet with the man who will likely chart the future of Syrian Druze.—
Jane Arraf,
NPR,
9 Apr. 2025
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Pope Francis has named an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore the next bishop, or top official, of the Diocese of Providence, a 153-year-old ecclesiastical territory of the Roman Catholic Church.—
Jonathan M. Pitts,
Baltimore Sun,
8 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
This would be the case also for an apostate, heretic, schismatic bishop, presbyter, or deacon.—
Fr. Goran Jovicic,
National Review,
13 June 2021
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The Rev. Allen D. Timm, executive presbyter of the Presbytery Church in Detroit, said the church is waiting to hear from the general assembly as to when volunteers will be dispatched to Houston.—
Allie Gross,
Detroit Free Press,
29 Aug. 2017
Noun
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Seidel and the university’s board of trustees, which met just before Wright was terminated as dean, have denied that his demotion was in retaliation for his refusing to transfer the funds.—
Michael T. Nietzel,
Forbes.com,
8 Apr. 2025
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But it was trashed by H. L. Mencken, editor of the Baltimore Sun and dean of America‘s literary critics.—
Ron Grossman,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Martini was a key figure in a group of churchmen who met annually in St. Gallen, Switzerland, to ponder how best to blunt John Paul and Ratzinger’s reactionary thrust.—
Paul Elie,
The New Yorker,
26 Feb. 2025
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Pentecostalism was about two decades old at the time, and its early practices of interracial worship, speaking in tongues, and divine healing were subjects of lively conversation among the relatively staid and respectable churchmen of mainline Protestantism.—
Andrew Cockburn,
Harper's Magazine,
19 Aug. 2024
Noun
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Again, Two Spears deduces the facts — that the priest must have killed the girl’s father before the girl killed the priest in self-defense.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
6 Apr. 2025
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After taking a couple episodes to establish its premise, there’s a procedural rhythm to Hub’s hunting expeditions, tracking targets from a possessed priest to a Satanic cheerleader.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
3 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deaconess.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deaconess. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
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