From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpriestpriest /priːst/ ●●● W3 noun [countable] 1 RRCsomeone who is specially trained to perform religious duties and ceremonies in the Christian church2 RRa man with religious duties and responsibilities in some non-Christian religionsTHESAURUSpriest someone who is specially trained to perform religious duties and ceremonies in the Christian churcha Catholic priesta Buddhist priestWomen priests are much more common these days.The priest who married us was very friendly and helpful. bishop a priest of high rank in some branches of the Christian church, who is the head of all the churches and priests in a large areathe Bishop of Oxforda meeting of bishopsvicar a priest in the Church of England who is in charge of a church in a particular areaour local vicarpreacher someone who gives the sermon (=a religious talk as part of a church service) in some Protestant churchesa Methodist preacherminister the formal word for any priest in some branches of the Christian churchIn 1843,450 ministers of the church broke away from the established church of Scotland.chaplain someone, especially a priest, who takes care of the religious needs of an organization such as a college, hospital, prison, or the militarythe prison chaplainpastor American English someone who is in charge of the prayers, ceremonies etc in some branches of the Protestant churcha Baptist pastorrabbi the person who is in charge of the prayers, ceremonies etc in the Jewish religionIsrael’s chief rabbismullah a Muslim teacher of law and religionThe people turned to their traditional leaders, the mullahs.holy man someone who is treated with great respect by people who belong to a religionA Sadhu, or Hindu holy man, was performing yoga on the banks of the River Ganges.the clergy the official leaders in organized religions, such as the priests, rabbis, and mullahsAround 30 members of the clergy gathered for the meeting.clergyman a male member of the clergy – used especially in the pastHis youngest son decided to become a clergyman.
Examples from the Corpus
priest• Marquez has been a priest for over twenty years.• Garvey says his machine tends to be a little more heavy-handed with the Hail Marys than your average priest.• Father Matthew Connor was not a modern priest.• For instance, no blacks could become Mormon priests, right?• The women liked to go there, but the priests were the first to die.• Do we run out and call the priest or rabbi?• For the first time in my life I could not confess all my sins to the priest.• It was the priest who examined the wound after three days to see whether it had healed.Origin priest Old English preost, from Late Latin presbyter, from Greek presbyteros “older man, priest”, from presbys “old man” 