Definition of Laity

1. Noun. In Christianity, members of a religious community that do not have the priestly responsibilities of ordained clergy.

Exact synonyms: Temporalty
Generic synonyms: Hoi Polloi, Mass, Masses, Multitude, People, The Great Unwashed
Member holonyms: Layman, Layperson, Secular
Antonyms: Clergy
Derivative terms: Lay

Definition of Laity

1. n. The people, as distinguished from the clergy; the body of the people not in orders.

Definition of Laity

1. Noun. people of a church who are not ordained clergy or clerics. ¹

2. Noun. the common man or woman ¹

3. Noun. the unlearned, untrained or ignorant as in “The Layman’s Guide to Basket Weaving” ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Laity

1. the nonclerical membership of a religious faith [n -ITIES]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Laity

laissez-faireism
laissez-fairism
laissez aller
laissez faire
lait
laitakarite
laitance
laitances
laitand
laith
laithly
laities
laity (current term)
lakao
lake
lake-effect
lake bed
lake bottom
lake duck
lake dwelling
lake dwellings
lake effect
lake herring
lake poet
lake poets
lake quillwort
lake quillworts

Literary usage of Laity

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Journal of Theological Studies (1904)
"THE POSITION OF THE laity IN THE CHURCH. THE Report of the Joint Committee of the Convocation of Canterbury on the Position of the laity has been before the ..."

2. Report of the Proceedings by Church congress (1888)
"The existing apathy of the laity shows us that the present want of ... The laity are just as responsible as the clergy for the guardianship of that " faith ..."

3. The State and the Church by Arthur Ralph Douglas Elliot (1899)
"CHAPTER III CLERGY AND laity THE Church consists of clergy and laity, ... That larger portion of the Church called the laity is much less clearly defined. ..."

4. The State and the Church by Arthur Ralph Douglas Elliot (1882)
"CLERGY AND laity. THE Church consists of clergy and laity, though the word has been too often employed as if ' the Church' was synonymous with ' the clergy. ..."

5. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann (1913)
"The principle is that the laity as such have no share in the spiritual jurisdiction ... The laity are incapable, if not by Divine law at least by canon law, ..."

6. English Constitutional History from the Teutonic Conquest to the Present Time by Thomas Pitt Taswell-Langmead (1905)
"The laity also in a Praemunire. "he Com- lons insist to the laity, >aa pardon ceived the king's pardon. It was now contended, on the ground of his ..."

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