Chaplain

//ˈt͡ʃæp.lɪn// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of a religious body who is (often, although not always, of the clergy) officially assigned to provide pastoral care at an institution, group, private chapel, etc.

    "The Railway Mission's regionally based chaplains perform the role of impartial 'friend' to anyone working on the railway, regardless of their faith."

  2. 2
    a clergyman ministering to some institution wordnet
  3. 3
    A person without religious affiliation who carries out similar duties in a secular context.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
abbeabunaantipopearchbishoparchdeaconarchpriest

Example

More examples

"The chaplain listened sympathetically to his parishioner."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English chapeleyn, from Old French chapelain, from Medieval Latin, Late Latin cappellānus, from cappella. Doublet of capelin. Displaced Old English handprēost.

Etymology 2

Variant of Chaplin.

Related phrases

college chaplaindomestic chaplainfootball chaplainhospital chaplainlay chaplainmilitary chaplainnaval chaplainprison chaplainschool chaplainsports chaplainstreet chaplain

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.