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dominee

dominee

9.9
A Christian minister who leads church services and gives advice, often in South Africa
  • noun
  • /ˈdoʊmɪni/
  • South African
translation icon : domine
  • Reverend Smith, a respected dominee, devoted his life to serving the church and its members.

Examples

  • Dominee Mario conducts an NG service, Schmidtsdrift.

    Academic text (1999)
  • At the community center, the dominee led a discussion on faith and hope.

  • Calvin Verlander was the dominee, the minister here at First Reformed.

  • Moreover, their intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Afrikaner social world in which "dominees" played a prominent part might have honed their senses for selecting suitable cultural elements for subversion.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Every Sunday, the dominee delivers an inspiring sermon to the congregation.

Synonyms

parson
vsdominee
13 8.2

A Christian minister in charge of a local church

is more tied to specific regional churches rather than only the parish role
dominus
vsdominee
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A clergyman in charge of a parish

is used now in particular Protestant traditions rather than only historically
domine
vsdominee
  • Archaic
9.9

An old word for a person who leads a Christian church, like a minister

is used mainly in certain Protestant communities rather than broadly archaic
dominie
vsdominee
  • Archaic
9.9

A person in Scotland who teaches at a school or leads a church

is a denominational clergy title used mainly in South Africa and Dutch Reformed history

Surface Forms

dominee singular
dominees plural

Etymology

The word dominee comes from the Latin word dominus, which means 'lord' or 'master'. People used dominus as a polite title for church leaders, so dominee became the name for a minister. You can see the same root in dominate ('to rule'), which helps explain why a dominee is a clergyman.