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chaplain

chaplain

96 7.2
A religious person who leads services and gives support at schools, hospitals, or in the army
  • noun
  • /ˈtʃæplɪn/
translation icon : capellán
  • The chaplain provides spiritual guidance to the soldiers during their training.
  • military chaplain
  • serve as chaplain
  • duties of chaplains

Please remain standing until the Chaplain of the Day finishes the opening prayer.

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Examples

  • This is the Catholic chaplain.

  • Right now, we'll drive down to Ramey and get the base chaplain to marry us.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • We tried to talk to the chaplain.

  • I want to see the chaplain.

  • The United States Army recognized the office of chaplain as an official military organization.

    Academic text (1991)
  • The primary focus of a Confederate chaplain was on providing spiritual leadership for his men.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Many of the religious leaders back home supported the chaplains' decision not to participate in fighting.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Now, now, my, my granddad was, was a chaplain with British forces in Egypt in the First World War.

  • At Sunday church services, chaplains rallied the troops.

  • Besides providing worship services on Sundays, chaplains also scheduled prayer meetings in the evening.

    Academic text (1991)

Synonyms

priest
vschaplain
1.0

A person who leads religious ceremonies and worship in a church or temple

serves attached to organizations rather than mainly in a temple or church
cleric
vschaplain
53 6.4

A religious leader who leads services and prayers in a church

serves attached to a chapel institution or armed forces
vicar
vschaplain
18 5.4

A Christian priest in charge of a local church

serves attached to an institution instead of leading a local church
clergyman
vschaplain
15 4.7

A man who leads services and gives spiritual help in a church

serves attached to an institution rather than leading a parish

Compounds

A religious person who gives comfort and support to patients, families, and hospital staff

A religious leader who works in a prison and gives religious help to prisoners

A religious leader who gives comfort and advice to soldiers in the armed forces

How Specialized

chaplain
96 7.2
visitor
908 1.0

Surface Forms

chaplain singular
chaplains plural

Morphology

chaplain = chapel (semi-transparent) = chapel + ain

The connection to 'chapel' is audible and semantic (a religious building), but the suffix '-ain' is a borrowed/formational element not productive in modern English and the exact institutional sense is not deducible by morphology alone.

Etymology

Chaplain comes from chapel, and that comes from the old Latin cappa meaning 'cloak' because people once kept a holy cloak in a small church. Long ago the priest who looked after that chapel was called a chaplain, so today a chaplain is a religious helper for a school, hospital, or army.