noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A person who is not a cleric.

   "Holonym: laity"

2. 2
   someone who is not a clergyman or a professional person wordnet
3. 3
   One who is not intimately familiar with a given subject or activity.

   "The book was written for professionals, but an intelligent layperson could understand most of it."

Synonyms

All synonyms

laymannonexpertnonspecialistsecular

Antonyms

All antonyms

aficionadoexpertprofessionalspecialist

Example

More examples

"This textbook was written for technical specialists, but a bright layperson should be able to get the gist."

Etymology

A lay (“non-clergy, nonclergy”) + person, along the lines of layman.

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