Sexton

//ˈsɛk.stən// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A church official who looks after a church building and its graveyard and may act as a gravedigger and bell ringer.

    "on that same night, Mr Haredale, having strongly bound his prisoner, with the assistance of the sexton, and forced him to mount his horse, conducted him to Chigwell"

  2. 2
    an officer of the church who is in charge of sacred objects wordnet
  3. 3
    A sexton beetle.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname originating as an occupation.

Synonyms

All synonyms
sacristansacristanacolytealmoneranagnostanne sexton

Example

More examples

"The poor father forced himself to ask the sexton whether she had been to mass."

Etymology

From Old French segrestien, from Medieval Latin sacristanus, based on Latin sacer (“sacred”). Doublet of sacristan.

Related phrases

Sleeping Sextonundersexton Sextonbell ringersexton beetle

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