Churchling
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A church-goer.
"Neither worldling nor churchling privately possesses his love. The churchling, in prayer and praise, is or ought to be alert to the divine summons as the worldling is not; in race relations and common justice it is sometimes the other way around."
- 2 A mere churchman. diminutive, sometimes
"" [...] And," he added, "it transforms a churchling into a Christian to come into contact with the Pope.""
- 3 A bigoted churchman. derogatory
"'I thought you were going to show us some swordcraft, churchling, not dance steps.' Arlin's tone was mocking. 'Sorry, I mistook you for a girl.'"
Example
More examples"Neither worldling nor churchling privately possesses his love. The churchling, in prayer and praise, is or ought to be alert to the divine summons as the worldling is not; in race relations and common justice it is sometimes the other way around."
Etymology
From church + -ling.
Related phrases
More for "churchling"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.