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Definition of "mendicant" []

  • Depending on alms for a living; practicing begging. (adjective)
  • A beggar. (noun)
  • A member of an order of friars forbidden to own property in common, who work or beg for their living. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "mendicant" in a sentence
  • "Historically, orders of friars could not own property, and individual friars were beggars hence the term mendicant, although this was changed insofar as the orders were concerned by the Council of Trent."
  • "What I did not know until tonight, whilst reading Downloading Midnight by William Browning Spencer (a so-far excellent cyberpunk novelette) was that mendicant is a real word and not a made-up construct."
  • "That person would merely be known as a mendicant monk or bhikshu."