How to Use cleric in a Sentence

cleric

noun
  • Dozens of clerics who disagreed with these measures have been fired.
    — Justin Gest, Newsweek, 11 Feb. 2025
  • As many clerics are keen to point out, Christmas is about more than presents.
    — The Economist, 19 Dec. 2017
  • The men will join a long procession of clerics in the walk to the main altar.
    — Tony Aiello, CBS News, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Khamenei—the son of a poor cleric from the shrine city of Mashhad—had other ideas.
    — Karim Sadjadpour, The Atlantic, 28 Feb. 2026
  • Eleanor’s throat was slashed, and her letters to the married cleric were scattered around their corpses.
    — Tom Nolan, WSJ, 29 Sep. 2022
  • Around the club, people know Smith as a cleric of fine taste and discretion.
    — Sam Kestenbaum, Vulture, 2 Jan. 2026
  • Keeping the state out of the church’s business meant clerics lost the power to suppress heretics by force.
    — The Economist, 4 Nov. 2017
  • Khamenei wore the turban of a senior Shiite cleric.
    — Karl Vick, Time, 28 Feb. 2026
  • Now the rest of the world would see how this humble cleric would reorganize the heavens.
    — National Geographic, 9 Apr. 2019
  • Program staff members were concerned about the depiction of the holy site, and had the artist meet with a cleric.
    — Carol Rosenberg Gabriella Demczuk, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2022
  • And my father’s dad was Canon Elliott, who was a very famous cleric in the war.
    — Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2024
  • Francis was a 12th century cleric known for his love of the poor and all creatures.
    — Sig Christenson, ExpressNews.com, 5 Oct. 2020
  • The Druze cleric who was accused has denied making the insult.
    — Amira El-Fekki‎, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 May 2025
  • The first face of the revolution to become its leading icon was, of course, not a soldier but a cleric.
    — Amir Ahmadi Arian, The New York Review of Books, 30 Sep. 2020
  • The text was first reviewed by three clerics and then copied by scribes onto marble for stonemasons to chisel.
    — Ethan Teekah, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 May 2026
  • As the blazing sun dipped below the horizon, rumors of a new announcement from the cleric were swirling.
    — Mustafa Salim, Washington Post, 21 June 2022
  • The prison system, which did not have Muslim cleric on staff, said non-prison staff would not be allowed in the chamber.
    — Kim Chandler, Star Tribune, 12 Feb. 2021
  • Hicks spent five years in El Salvador—a long time for a cleric on the executive track.
    — Paul Elie, New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2026
  • For weeks, officials implored clerics to shut down crowded Shiite shrines to halt the spread of the virus.
    — Nasser Karimi, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Mar. 2020
  • Even so, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head cleric of the church.
    — Lyndsey Matthews, Good Housekeeping, 19 Sep. 2022
  • These clerics have spent our money for years on missiles and drones, and on funding Hamas and Hezbollah.
    — Benjamin Weinthal, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
  • In this staunchly Sunni city, trainee clerics now study Shia as well as Sunni schools of law.
    — The Economist, 28 Mar. 2018
  • This one is about a cleric named Chih and an old woman, Rabbit, who tells them stories about an empress.
    — Veronica Roth, Peoplemag, 18 June 2024
  • Sistani, the most powerful cleric in Iraq, is in his 90s and believed to be in poor health.
    — Mohamad Bazzi, Foreign Affairs, 13 Sep. 2022
  • For more than a decade, the 51-year-old cleric has seen as a potential successor to his father's throne.
    — Hollie McKay, Fox News, 8 Dec. 2020
  • Khamenei was born in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, as the son of a mid-ranking cleric of modest means.
    — Robin Wright, New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2026
  • Despite his rhetoric over the last week, the 85-year-old cleric is probably still trying to figure out a response.
    — Daniel Depetris, Chicago Tribune, 5 Nov. 2024
  • The 86-year-old cleric had been at the helm of the ⁠Islamic Republic for 36 ​years.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 13 June 2026
  • Analysts and clerics are keen to stress the overall importance of this visit to the continent.
    — Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 12 Apr. 2026
  • The outspoken Islamist cleric has been a thorn in the side of the ruling al-Saud family for decades.
    — Saphora Smith, NBC News, 26 July 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cleric.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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