parish
/ˈpæɹɪʃ/ · par·ish
noun
- In the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Church, an administrative part of a diocese that has its own church. The parish of St. Mary's is known for its beautiful stained glass windows.
- The community attending that church; the members of the parish. The parish is very active in charity work and volunteer events.
- An ecclesiastical society, usually not bounded by territorial limits, but composed of those persons who choose to unite under the charge of a particular priest, clergyman, or minister; also, loosely, the territory in which the members of a congregation live. The parish is a tight-knit community that looks out for one another.
verb
- To place (an area, or rarely a person) into one or more parishes. The government re-parished the countryside to better organize rural communities.
- To visit residents of a parish. The priest parishes the elderly residents of the community to check on their well-being.
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Antonyms
Did you know? The word 'parish' has its roots in ancient Greek, referring to a dwelling beside a house, which eventually evolved to describe a community or administrative area within a church.