Tonsure

//ˈtɑn.ʃɚ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A ritual shaving of this kind.
  2. 2
    shaving the crown of the head by priests or members of a monastic order wordnet
  3. 3
    The hairstyle and characteristic bald patch resulting from being tonsured.
  4. 4
    the shaved crown of a monk's or priest's head wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To shave the crown of the head of (a person) as a sign of humility and religious vocation. transitive
  2. 2
    shave the head of a newly inducted monk wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
shaving

Example

More examples

"Who wants to travel far has to move his tonsure by sparing his mount."

Etymology

From Middle English tonsure, from Anglo-Norman and Old French tonsure, from Latin tonsūra (“a clipping, trimming”), from tondeō (“shear, clip, trim”).

More for "tonsure"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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