mendicant

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: men=di=cant

CIDE DICTIONARY

mendicant, a. [L. mendicans, -antis, p. pr. of mendicare to beg, fr. mendicus beggar, indigent.].

 Practicing beggary; begging; living on alms; as, mendicant friars.  [1913 Webster]

Mendicant orders (R. C. Ch.), certain monastic orders which are forbidden to acquire landed property and are required to be supported by alms, esp. the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Carmelites, and the Augustinians.

mendicant, n. 

 A beggar; esp., one who makes a business of begging; specifically, a begging friar.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mendicant, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 begging.
2 (of a friar) living solely on alms.
--n.
1 a beggar.
2 a mendicant friar.

Derivative

mendicancy n. mendicity n.

Etymology

L mendicare beg f. mendicus beggar f. mendum fault

THESAURUS

mendicant

Albigensian, Catharist, Franciscan, Sabbatarian, Trappist, Waldensian, abbacomes, abbot, abstainer, abstinent, anchorite, anchoritic, ascetic, austere, beadsman, beggar, beggared, beggarly, begging, bereaved, bereft, bhikshu, brother, bum, bummer, cadger, cadging, caloyer, celibate, cenobite, conventual, conventual prior, coupon clippers, deprived, dervish, disadvantaged, drone, eremitic, fakir, flagellant, fleeced, freeloader, friar, ghettoized, grand prior, hermit, hieromonach, hobo, idle rich, impoverished, in need, in rags, in want, indigent, lay abbot, lay brother, leisure class, loafer, lounge lizard, lumpen proletariat, mendicant friar, mendicant order, monastic, monk, moocher, mooching, necessitous, needy, nonworker, on relief, out at elbows, palmer, panhandler, parasite, pauperized, petitionary, pilgrim, pillar saint, pillarist, poverty-stricken, prayerful, precative, prior, puritan, puritanical, religieux, religious, rentiers, rigoristic, sannyasi, schnorrer, scrounger, scrounging, self-denying, spiv, sponger, starveling, stripped, stylite, suppliant, supplicant, supplicating, supplicatory, the unemployable, the unemployed, tramp, underprivileged, wedded to poverty, yogi, yogin

ROGET THESAURUS

mendicant

Petitioner

N petitioner, solicitor, applicant, suppliant, supplicant, suitor, candidate, claimant, postulant, aspirant, competitor, bidder, place hunter, pot hunter, prizer, seeker, beggar, mendicant, moocher, panhandler, freeloader, sponger, mumper, sturdy beggar, cadger, hotel runner, runner, steerer, tout, touter, pauper, homeless person, hobo, bum, tramp, bindle stiff, bo, knight of the road (poverty), hippie, flower child, hard core unemployed, welfare client, welfare case, canvasser, bagman, salesman.

Poverty

N poverty, indigence, penury, pauperism, destitution, want, need, neediness, lack, necessity, privation, distress, difficulties, wolf at the door, bad circumstances, poor circumstances, need circumstances, embarrassed circumstances, reduced circumstances, straightened circumstances, slender means, narrow means, straits, hand to mouth existence, res angusta domi, low water, impecuniosity, beggary, mendicancy, mendicity, broken fortune, loss of fortune, insolvency, empty pocket, empty purse, light purse, beggarly account of empty boxes, poor man, pauper, mendicant, mumper, beggar, starveling, pauvre diable, fakir, schnorrer, homeless person, poor, indigent, poverty-stricken, badly off, poorly off, ill off, poor as a rat, poor as a church mouse, poor as a Job, fortuneless, dowerless, moneyless, penniless, unportioned, unmoneyed, impecunious, out of money, out of cash, short of money, short of cash, without a rap, not worth a rap, qui n'a pas le sou, out of pocket, hard up, out at elbows, out at heels, seedy, bare-footed, beggarly, beggared, destitute, fleeced, stripped, bereft, bereaved, reduced, homeless, in want, needy, necessitous, distressed, pinched, straitened, put to one's shifts, put to one's last shifts, unable to keep the wolf from the door, unable to make both ends meet, embarrassed, under hatches, involved, insolvent, in forma pauperis, zonam perdidit, a penniless lass wi' a lang pedigree, a pobreza no hay verguenza, he that is down can fall no lower, poca roba poco pensiero, steeped, in poverty to the very lips, the short and simple annals of the poor.

Clergy

N clergy, clericals, ministry, priesthood, presbytery, the cloth, the desk, clergyman, divine, ecclesiastic, churchman, priest, presbyter, hierophant, pastor, shepherd, minister, father, father in Christ, padre, abbe, cure, patriarch, reverend, black coat, confessor, dignitaries of the church, ecclesiarch, hierarch, ebdomarius, eminence, reverence, elder, primate, metropolitan, archbishop, bishop, prelate, diocesan, suffragan, dean, subdean, archdeacon, prebendary, canon, rural dean, rector, parson, vicar, perpetual curate, residentiary, beneficiary, incumbent, chaplain, curate, deacon, deaconess, preacher, reader, lecturer, capitular, missionary, propagandist, Jesuit, revivalist, field preacher, churchwarden, sidesman, clerk, precentor, choir, almoner, suisse, verger, beadle, sexton, sacristan, acolyth, acolothyst, acolyte, altar boy, chorister, Pope, Papa, pontiff, high priest, cardinal, ancient flamen, flamen, confessor, penitentiary, spiritual director, cenobite, conventual, abbot, prior, monk, friar, lay brother, beadsman, mendicant, pilgrim, palmer, canon regular, canon secular, Franciscan, Friars minor, Minorites, Observant, Capuchin, Dominican, Carmelite, Augustinian, Gilbertine, Austin Friars, Black Friars, White Friars, Gray Friars, Crossed Friars, Crutched Friars, Bonhomme, Carthusian, Benedictine, Cistercian, Trappist, Cluniac, Premonstatensian, Maturine, Templar, Hospitaler, Bernardine, Lorettine, pillarist, stylite, abbess, prioress, canoness, religieuse, nun, novice, postulant, prophet, priest, high priest, Levite, Rabbi, Rabbin, Rebbe, scribe, mullah, muezzin, ayatollah, ulema, imaum, imam, sheik, sufi, kahin, kassis, mufti, hadji, dervish, fakir, faquir, brahmin, guru, kaziaskier, poonghie, sanyasi, druid, bonze, santon, abdal, Lama, talapoin, caloyer, the Reverend, the very Reverend, the Right Reverend, ordained, in orders, called to the ministry.