Nearby Words

layman

[ley-muhn] Example Sentences Origin

lay·man

[ley-muhn]
noun, plural -men.
1.
a person who is not a member of the clergy; one of the laity.
2.
a person who is not a member of a given profession, as law or medicine.

Origin:
1150–1200; Middle English; see lay3, man1


See -man.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Layman is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Example Sentences
  • In many churches a layman active in church work will preach the sermon.
  • To the untrained eye, though, the line between the lab scientist and the layman can seem fuzzy.
  • Instead it now creates elegant nebulae, fascinating to professionals but hard for the layman to pick out unaided.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
layman (ˈleɪmən)
 
n , pl -men
1.  a man who is not a member of the clergy
2.  a person who does not have specialized or professional knowledge of a subject: science for the layman

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

layman
"non-cleric," early 15c., from lay (adj.) + man. Meaning "outsider, non-expert" (especially in regards to law or medicine) is from late 15c. Related: Laymen.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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