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seminarian

seminarian

7 8.1
A student at a school that trains people to be priests
  • noun
  • /ˌsɛmɪˈnɛəriən/
translation icon : seminarista
  • The bishop gave a talk to the newly admitted seminarians about their responsibilities.
  • young seminarian
  • Catholic seminarian
  • courses for seminarians

And they don't really know it because seminarians don't read classical tags.

Examples

  • Thus, the "Global Theologies" course gathers seminarians representing the Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, and evangelical Protestant traditions.

    Academic text (2014)
  • Letters from seminarians thanking Toussaint for financial assistance attest to his firm commitment to Catholicism.

    Academic text (1993)
  • I think every seminarian knows that one.

  • You can see them there in their young seminarian outfits.

  • If any of you knows of any fellow seminarians breaking this rule, please let me know immediately.

  • One of our young seminarians has had a change of heart and has decided to leave Holy Trinity.

  • His name was Gaudencio Beira, and he had been a seminarian.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • It is a great pleasure to introduce a member of our parish family, now a seminarian, to deliver today's reflection.

  • First and foremost, the course contributes to seminarians' theological formation in two important respects.

    Academic text (2014)
  • A not insignificant number of diocesan seminarians in the past decade came from our parish.

    Blog text (16)

Synonyms

seminarist
vsseminarian
8.8

A student who studies at a religious school to become a Catholic priest

is the same in meaning but is an alternative form or spelling

How High-Ranking

ayatollah
5 9.8
mullah
4 8.5
seminarian
7 8.1

Surface Forms

seminarian singular
seminarians plural

Morphology

seminarian = seminary (transparent) = seminary + ian

Clearly formed from 'seminary' + the agentive suffix '-ian', meaning a person associated with or attending a seminary.

Etymology

Seminarian comes from the Latin seminarium, a 'seedbed', which in turn comes from semen meaning 'seed'. So a seminarian is like a 'seed' being grown in a seminary — a person being trained to become a priest.