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laity
5 dictionary results for: laity
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
la·i·ty       [ley-i-tee] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.the body of religious worshipers, as distinguished from the clergy.
2.the people outside of a particular profession, as distinguished from those belonging to it: the medical ignorance of the laity.
[Origin: 1535–45; lay3 + -ity]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
la·i·ty       (lā'ĭ-tē)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. Laypeople considered as a group.
  2. All those persons who are not members of a given profession or other specialized field.


[Middle English laite, from lay, of the laity; see lay2.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
laity 
1541, "body of people not in religious orders," Anglo-Fr. laite, from lay (adj.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
laity

noun
in Christianity, members of a religious community that do not have the priestly responsibilities of ordained clergy [ant: clergy] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Laity

La"i*ty\ (l[=a]"[i^]*t[y^]), n. [See Lay, a.]

1. The people, as distinguished from the clergy; the body of the people not in orders.

A rising up of the laity against the sacerdotal caste. --Macaulay.

2. The state of a layman. [Obs.] --Ayliffe.

3. Those who are not of a certain profession, as law or medicine, in distinction from those belonging to it.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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