Archimandrite
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The superior of a large monastery, or group of monasteries, in the Orthodox Church.
"My predecessors generally preferred to live and work in the monastery proper, but I like the solitude of the caves. I have been an archimandrite, here at Pskov, since 1915 and a humble monk for twenty years before that."
- 2 the superior of an abbey of monks wordnet
- 3 An honorary title sometimes given to a monastic priest. rare
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"My predecessors generally preferred to live and work in the monastery proper, but I like the solitude of the caves. I have been an archimandrite, here at Pskov, since 1915 and a humble monk for twenty years before that."
Etymology
Borrowed from French archimandrite, from Latin archimandrīta, from late Ancient Greek ἀρχιμανδρίτης (arkhimandrítēs), from ἀρχι- (arkhi-, “highest”) + μάνδρα (mándra, “enclosure, cloister, monastery”) + -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs, “member of”).
More for "archimandrite"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.