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Definition of "tonsure" [ton•sure]

  • The act of shaving the head or part of the head, especially as a preliminary to becoming a priest or a member of a monastic order. (noun)
  • The part of a monk's or priest's head that has been shaved. (noun)
  • To shave the head of. (verb-transitive)

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 "tonsure" in a sentence
  • "The man with the tonsure is speaking of trainee monk Dumitru Ilie who is said to have got “hammered” and spent the night a woman he met at a party."
  • "I always thought the Christian practice of shaving a tonsure was the idea of some brownnoser trying to make his boss with male-pattern baldness look good."
  • "Formerly the tonsure was another identifying feature of the cleric."