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# laity

«laity» in Mova's school dictionary: **not priests, ministers or clergy** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (the laity; plural, used with «the»)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (church) The ordinary members of a church who are not priests, ministers or clergy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/#m1)

2) People who are not experts in a subject. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In church life lessons: the clergy (priests, vicars, ministers) lead services; the laity are the ordinary churchgoers, who can also read the Bible aloud, sing and help. Adjective: «lay» (a lay reader, a lay preacher). Phrases: «the clergy and the laity».

### examples

- The bishop met with the clergy and the laity. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/#x1)
- Members of the laity read the Bible readings on Sunday. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/#x2)
- My grandmother is a lay reader, one of the laity who helps lead services. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/#x3)
- The laity helped organise the church fete. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/#x4)
- Science books for the laity explain things simply. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/#x5)
- Both clergy and laity sang in the choir. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/#x6)

### note

Usually «the laity», treated as plural or singular. A «layman» or «layperson» is one member. Pronounced LAY-i-tee. Not about «laying» anything.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «laity» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laity/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.