as in beggar
a person who lives by public begging
those wretched mendicants on the streets of Calcutta
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in monastic
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mendicant
Joanne M. Pierce, The Conversation, 9 May 2025
Augustinians are mendicants, like the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carmelites.
—Sonari Glinton, Forbes.com, 8 May 2025
In Thank You for Your Servitude, which for my money is the only truly interesting book about the Trump presidency, author Mark Leibovich goes into harrowing detail about how the modern GOP readily turned itself into a gaggle of mendicants to serve Trump on bended knee.
—Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 29 Apr. 2023
All these words strike me as vaguely offensive except for mendicant and supplicant.
—Stephen Miller, WSJ, 11 Oct. 2021
But both mendicant and supplicant have a religious connotation.
—Stephen Miller, WSJ, 11 Oct. 2021
The island was a coda of sorts: a place of Christian pilgrimage since the death of a local mendicant, later canonized as St. Cuthbert, in 687.
—Henry Wismayer, Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2021
The fortunes of alphabetical order were further advanced by the growth of mendicant preaching orders.
—Katherine A. Powers, WSJ, 16 Oct. 2020
Francis is the first pope to name himself after the mendicant friar, who renounced a wealthy, dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and service to the poor.
—CBS News, 5 Oct. 2020
Seyward Darby, Longreads, 5 Apr. 2023
No doubt the traditional tunic and mantle of his mendicant religious order met some standard of austerity when they were adopted in the Middle Ages.
—Nicholas Frankovich, National Review, 2 Jan. 2021
Noun
Instead of withdrawing from the world in isolated monasteries, members of this order travel as mendicants to aid the poor as well as serve as missionaries and teachers.
—Joanne M. Pierce, The Conversation, 9 May 2025
Augustinians are mendicants, like the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carmelites.
—Sonari Glinton, Forbes.com, 8 May 2025
In Thank You for Your Servitude, which for my money is the only truly interesting book about the Trump presidency, author Mark Leibovich goes into harrowing detail about how the modern GOP readily turned itself into a gaggle of mendicants to serve Trump on bended knee.
—Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 29 Apr. 2023
All these words strike me as vaguely offensive except for mendicant and supplicant.
—Stephen Miller, WSJ, 11 Oct. 2021
But both mendicant and supplicant have a religious connotation.
—Stephen Miller, WSJ, 11 Oct. 2021
The island was a coda of sorts: a place of Christian pilgrimage since the death of a local mendicant, later canonized as St. Cuthbert, in 687.
—Henry Wismayer, Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2021
The fortunes of alphabetical order were further advanced by the growth of mendicant preaching orders.
—Katherine A. Powers, WSJ, 16 Oct. 2020
Francis is the first pope to name himself after the mendicant friar, who renounced a wealthy, dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and service to the poor.
—CBS News, 5 Oct. 2020
Adjective
The abrupt appearance and disappearance of the mendicant pilgrim is part of her power.
—Seyward Darby, Longreads, 5 Apr. 2023
No doubt the traditional tunic and mantle of his mendicant religious order met some standard of austerity when they were adopted in the Middle Ages.
—Nicholas Frankovich, National Review, 2 Jan. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mendicant
Noun
-
The beggars, widows, and families with sick relatives who once made a pilgrimage to the gates of the parliament building in the Green Zone to beg lawmakers for help are now barred from entry.—
Ned Parker,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Feb. 2012
-
All the beggars at the intersection of Lee Road and the off-ramp of I-4 are completely out of hand.—
Ticked Off,
Orlando Sentinel,
18 July 2024
Adjective
-
Women, regardless of hue, were excluded from the ballot with monastic absolutism.—
Jack Hill,
Baltimore Sun,
17 May 2025
-
The Handmaids — who live nutritionally balanced, conception-promoting lives of monastic deprivation — have not eaten their slices of wedding cake.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
13 May 2025
Adjective
-
But degraded conventual forces could drive Putin to other means of exerting force.—
Matt Seyler,
ABC News,
10 May 2022
-
The Rev. Brad Heckathorne, a Conventual Franciscan friar, performed the ceremony at the chapel at Duke University.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
23 Apr. 2017
Adjective
-
Some of those details are in opposition to one another – the ancient and the modern, the religious and the secular -particularly in Riyadh.—
Jennifer Maas,
Variety,
27 May 2025
-
The Nazis’ demonization of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as political opponents, led to the Holocaust.—
John Blake,
CNN Money,
26 May 2025
Adjective
-
The carpaccio is served with those divine Sicilian berry capers.—
Laura Ness,
Mercury News,
25 May 2025
-
In the Roman Catholic Church, popes have shown openness to evolution while insisting that the human soul is a divine creation.—
Peter Smith,
Los Angeles Times,
25 May 2025
Adjective
-
Anand is a neurologist and the author of The Mind Electric, out in June 2025 Within the walls of a hospital, privacy is sacred—the intimate details of someone’s body and illness are meant to be as carefully guarded, as quietly delivered, as a sacramental confession.—
Pria Anand,
TIME,
18 Feb. 2025
-
After the surgeon general’s warning on alcohol, people of faith should rethink sacramental wine, writes guest columnist Eli Federman.—
Ryan Fonseca,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mendicant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mendicant. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share