MONKS Synonyms: 69 Similar and Opposite Words

monks

noun

plural of monk

as in friars

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Recent Examples of monks Two monks sustained serious injuries, and one monk lost part of his leg as a result of the crash. — Jasmine Baehr, FOXNews.com, 10 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for monks

Noun

Throughout much of Buddhist history, and particularly in Theravada Buddhist contexts, mindfulness and its associated meditation methods have been the purview of mendicants (monks and nuns), who used mindfulness meditation to achieve trance states (jhana) leading to nirvana.

— Charles Preston, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Apr. 2026
But those states also have Republican governors, who would have raised holy hell if their constituents had been menaced by these roving mobs of mendicants.

— Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 28 Nov. 2025

Definition of mendicants

Noun

Probably the most famous are the Latin and Middle High German poems preserved in the Carmina Burana, which are the work of goliards—wandering clerics and university students.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2026
Oddly enough, Iran and Afghanistan, both ruled by clerics, are the only countries in the world that still regularly stage public executions.

— Dexter Filkins, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of clerics

Noun

In the halcyon days of the televangelists, when Jim Bakker stood shoulder to shoulder with fire and brimstone preachers such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Jimmy Swaggart, the collection plate always seemed bottomless.

— Steve Marble, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
People of faith often embraced his work, and preachers sometimes cited it in sermons.

— Courier Journal staff, Louisville Courier Journal, 1 Sep. 2026