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Glite Dictionary
💰 A receiver 🗣️ A receiver ⛪ Having church rights
beneficiary

beneficiary

9.9
Having rights or income from a church office
  • adjective
  • /ˌbɛnɪˈfɪʃiˌɛri/
  • Archaic
translation icon : beneficiado
  • In ecclesiastical history, a beneficiary bishop had the authority to oversee several parishes.

Examples

  • The beneficiary clergy received special privileges.

  • During the medieval period, only the beneficiary monks had rights to the abbey's income.

  • During the Middle Ages, a beneficiary knight could support himself through his granted lands.

  • He wore robes reserved for members of the beneficiary clergy.

  • Only those of beneficiary rank were entitled to income from the church lands.

  • Is the beneficiary priest entitled to these rights?

  • The beneficiary clergy enjoyed the privilege of free access to specific church resources.

Synonyms

beneficed
vsbeneficiary
  • Formal
9.9

A priest or minister who has a paid church job that gives them income

is broader and applies to anyone holding or relating to a benefice

Compounds

co-beneficiary
  • Specialized
7.0

A person who shares a benefit from a will, insurance policy, or trust

trustee-beneficiary relation
  • Formal
8.2

A legal relationship where one person must act in another person's best interest

Surface Forms

beneficiary positive

Morphology

beneficiary = benefice (semi-transparent) = benefice + ary

The connection to 'benefice' is clear, but the specific ecclesiastical meaning may not be immediately obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Beneficiary also comes from the Latin beneficium and the word benefice, which meant a 'gift' of land or income from the church, so someone described as beneficiary had rights or income from that church gift.