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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In 1781, a French clergyman named Antoine Court de Gébelin claimed to have discovered the ancient Book of Thoth while attending a stylish salon in Paris.—
Jonathon Keats,
Forbes,
28 Feb. 2025
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One of the key details revealed in the emails, according to the reports, was from a Saints team spokesman who briefed his boss on a 2018 call with the city’s top prosecutor hours before the church released a list of clergymen accused of abuse.—
Mark Puleo,
The Athletic,
4 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Fox is a Wiccan priestess, but Circle Sanctuary is inclusive of a range of pagan traditions, focusing on a spiritual connection with nature.—
Rose Conlon,
NPR,
20 Dec. 2024
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Someone who would later make his living from teaching the Course and selling his own tapes, lectures, and videos would have obvious mercenary reasons to construct the story of Helen as a true, reluctant priestess, the project as foreordained, and Jesus as the book’s authentic Voice.—
Sheila Heti,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Sep. 2024
Noun
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According to the emails, communication between church leaders and Saints officials began in July 2018 after Greg Bensel, the Saints’ head of communications, shared a local news story with Benson about a former deacon who was removed from ministry due to abuse accusations.—
Mark Puleo,
The Athletic,
4 Feb. 2025
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Deeply religious, Boyles was a deacon at Maranatha Family Worship Center in Kansas City.—
Ilana Arougheti,
Kansas City Star,
4 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Mariann Edgar Budde, the bishop of Washington, at the National Prayer Service in January.—
Robert B. Reich,
Hartford Courant,
4 Mar. 2025
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Instead, the pope has negotiated transformation mostly through words and actions, allowing for open discussion of LGBTQ issues in contrast to previous popes who ostracized or even punished bishops for bringing them up or ministering to the community.—
Marc Ramirez,
USA TODAY,
2 Mar. 2025
Noun
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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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The dean of the Kennedy School issued a statement distancing himself from the talk.—
Nathan Heller,
The New Yorker,
3 Mar. 2025
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Lauren Smith is dean of the Hamilton Holt School or Professional Advancement and Graduate Studies at Rollins College.—
Lauren Smith,
Orlando Sentinel,
26 Feb. 2025
Noun
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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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Castro went to a Jesuit high school in Havana, Belén, and was taught by Spanish priests.—
Jay Nordlinger,
National Review,
5 Mar. 2025
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The girl gave birth when Velez-Lopez started serving as a priest in Alexandria, Louisiana, according to the report.—
Julia Marnin,
Miami Herald,
4 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Deaconess.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deaconess. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
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