Mendicant

//ˈmɛn.dɪ.kənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A pauper who lives by begging.

    "I made £150 by Alton Locke, and never lost a farthing; and I got, not in spite of, but by the rows, a name and a standing with many a one who would never have heard of me otherwise, and I should have been a stercoraceous mendicant if I had hollowed when I got a facer, while I was winning by the cross, though I didn't mean to fight one."

  2. 2
    a pauper who lives by begging wordnet
  3. 3
    A religious friar, forbidden to own personal property, who begs for a living.
  4. 4
    a male member of a religious order that originally relied solely on alms wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Depending on alms for a living. not-comparable
  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to a beggar. not-comparable
  3. 3
    Of or pertaining to a member of a religious order forbidden to own property, and who must beg for a living. not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    practicing beggary wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
beggarfriarabbacomesabbotabstainerabstinent

Example

More examples

"Tom gave three dollars to a mendicant."

Etymology

From Middle English mendicant, from Latin mendīcāns, present participle of mendīcō (“beg”). Compare French mendiant.

Related phrases

mendicant ordermendicant order

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