high priest
15
7.2
- noun
- /haɪ priːst/
:
sumo sacerdote
- During the ceremony, the high priest offered prayers on behalf of the community.
And then on the priestly line, you've got high priest, high priestess.
- And then on the priestly line, you've got high priest, high priestess.
- So Melchizedek was the high priest or the king priest that Abraham paid tithes and offerings to in the Bible.
- He brings it and it's broken by the high priest who he fights with.
Examples
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And the good news is that high priest, our great high priest, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Blog text (4) -
Unfortunately, the high priests of Israel often failed because, like any human being, they were imperfect.
Blog text (10) -
The only one who goes in there is the high priest.
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Make way for the high priest!
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Since Jesus is our great high priest, therefore let us draw near to God.
Blog text (4) -
Do you really think there is a high priest out there that does not already know that?
Blog text (13) -
For it points us to the one who is serving as our own high priest.
Blog text (4) -
And out of all the priests, there was one high priest at any given time.
Blog text (4) -
I am Melchizedek, king and the Lord's high priest of Salem.
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Every year at Yom Kippur, the high priest would symbolically transfer all of the sins of the people unto a goat.
Synonyms
210
3.9
A senior church leader who supervises priests in a group of local churches
132
8.9
The leader of a religious order who looks after many communities
43
3.4
A person who guides a group's religious beliefs and practices
31
7.2
A senior bishop who leads a large church area in some Christian churches
12
9.1
A senior church leader who has authority over other clergy
6
9.8
A senior bishop who is in charge of other bishops in a country or region
1
9.9
A person who has a high position in a church or other group
1
9.6
A senior church leader in charge of several churches or a cathedral
A bishop who leads a serious church ceremony
A priest who leads a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic churches
How Authoritative
Surface Forms
Morphology
high + priest
Literally, 'high priest' combines 'high' (of superior rank) and 'priest' to mean a senior or chief priest, so the basic compositional sense is clear. However, the non-religious use meaning 'leading authority or foremost advocate' is a metaphorical extension of the literal sense; this mapping is somewhat predictable but not fully transparent to a B1 learner without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
High priest comes from ancient temples where the main priest stood above others or had the top rank, so high shows 'top' and priest is the religious leader. That's why the term means 'the main religious leader'.