as in prioress
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Recent Examples of abbess
When the abbess died in 866, she was buried in the abbey church.
—
Moira Ritter, Miami Herald, 22 Feb. 2024
Groff imagined the poet Marie de France as a teenager forced to venture into the dark woods to serve as the abbess.
—Ron Charles, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023
It’s been nearly 14 centuries since the monastery founded by St. Hild of Whitby, a prominent abbess in 7th century Anglo-Saxon England, hosted the Northumbrian kingdom’s assembly to discuss the date on which its Christian church would celebrate Easter.
—Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY, 28 Apr. 2023
One of them was the abbess of a female religious community in Kent from around 733 to 761 CE, which is consistent with the dating of MS Selden Supra 30.
—Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 21 Feb. 2023
See All Example Sentences for abbess
Moira Ritter, Miami Herald, 22 Feb. 2024
Groff imagined the poet Marie de France as a teenager forced to venture into the dark woods to serve as the abbess.
—Ron Charles, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023
It’s been nearly 14 centuries since the monastery founded by St. Hild of Whitby, a prominent abbess in 7th century Anglo-Saxon England, hosted the Northumbrian kingdom’s assembly to discuss the date on which its Christian church would celebrate Easter.
—Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY, 28 Apr. 2023
One of them was the abbess of a female religious community in Kent from around 733 to 761 CE, which is consistent with the dating of MS Selden Supra 30.
—Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 21 Feb. 2023
See All Example Sentences for abbess
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abbess
Noun
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Matrix by Lauren Groff Currents of violence and devotion coalesce around Marie de France, a 17-year-old sent to be the new prioress of a 12th-century English abbey.—
Mia Barzilay Freund,
Vogue,
7 July 2025
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In response, the diocese said in a statement that the Holy See has acted toward healing the Arlington Carmel and the nuns in the community and not simply the former prioress and her former councilors.—
Elizabeth Campbell,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
21 Apr. 2024
Noun
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Valak first appears in the Conjuring universe in 2016’s The Conjuring 2, when the Warrens encounter a demon in the form of a nun.—
Julie Tremaine,
PEOPLE,
27 Oct. 2025
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Guests have heard screams, and some have reported actually seeing a ghostly nun standing beside their bed.—
Noreen Kompanik,
Boston Herald,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In the medieval church, women’s roles were limited – usually some form of enclosure and celibacy, such as becoming an anchoress walled up alone for life, or a nun in a classic convent.—
Joelle Rollo-Koster,
The Conversation,
25 Feb. 2025
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Louise, a former anchoress, is her humble, tyrannical maid.—
Hervé Guibert,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Santos was the Republican political novice who shocked everyone by winning a House seat in a traditionally Democratic New York district — and who was then promptly revealed as having fabricated virtually his entire personal, educational and business history.—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
Twin Cities,
24 Oct. 2025
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But Ellison is no novice on this front, either.—
Josef Adalian,
Vulture,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
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How can a kindly, God-fearing, and ascetic novice monk compete against that?—
Karl Ove Knausgaard,
New Yorker,
21 Oct. 2025
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Lott is still a priest but is no longer a monk at Delbarton, nor is he affiliated with the school.—
Corky Siemaszko,
NBC news,
16 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Play it again, Towa Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree follows the titular character, a priestess of Shinju Village, on a time-hopping quest to protect the realm from a malignant entity called Magatsu.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
18 Sep. 2025
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Which priestess of fashion, born in 1881, to immense wealth, probably spent more money on clothes and jewels than any queen ever did?—
Sheldon Pearce,
New Yorker,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As a young religious, Bishop-elect Lombardo did missionary work in Bolivia and Honduras.—
Laura Rodríguez Presa,
chicagotribune.com,
11 Sep. 2020
Noun
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Local spats could now feed into a mass movement that spread far beyond individual disputes between a peasant and a particularly nasty abbot or lord.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Sep. 2025
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By the 1930s the newly emerging field of genetics was growing in popularity, based primarily on the studies of the Austrian biologist and Catholic abbot Gregor Mendel.—
D. Scott Schmid,
Denver Post,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Abbess.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abbess. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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