Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or relating to the laity; secular.
- noun A layperson.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Belonging to the laity or people, in distinction from the clergy or professionals.
- noun A layman, in distinction from a clergyman.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A layman.
- adjective Of or pertaining to a layman or the laity.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
layperson , as opposed to a member of theclergy . - adjective
Lay , relating tolaypersons , as opposed toclerical .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective characteristic of those who are not members of the clergy
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The confinement made him fretful and exacting, and the old Marquise ascribed the change in his behaviour to the deplorable influence of his tutor, a "laic" recommended by one of Raymond's old professors.
The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1899
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Established as a secular state by Mustafa Kemal, Attaturk (popularly known as the Father of the Turks), Turkey's political elite and military often defined and implemented their brand secularism (laic) as a hardline secularism, more autocratic than democratic, that was often anti-religion with little space for Islam in the public square.
John L. Esposito: Post Turkey: Obama's Challenges and Opportunities in the Muslim World 2009
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Luc ët ðë riisënt Jhëërmën modificeixën, it traid të regiëlëraiz ðë speliñ böt respectiñ ðë tradixën, ënd ðë risoolt wëz disëpointiñ, insted ëv put ðë loñ vawëlz in ounli wön wei (för instans döbliñ ðem), ðei hëv nau tripël consënënts (laic “Programmmusik”).
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Luc ët ðë riisënt Jhëërmën modificeixën, it traid të regiëlëraiz ðë speliñ böt respectiñ ðë tradixën, ënd ðë risoolt wëz disëpointiñ, insted ëv put ðë loñ vawëlz in ounli wön wei (för instans döbliñ ðem), ðei hëv nau tripël consënënts (laic “Programmmusik”).
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French laws have been fiercely laic for the longest time now.
Think Progress » VIDEO: Zahn Interviews McGovern, Defends Rumsfeld 2006
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Taking into account simple preconditions for a nation to emerge, such as ‘national identity’ (preferably laic) - are we sure that each and every nation in the Arab World had its unique identity at the moment of its creation?
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2008
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There is a strong consensus in France that the core of the welfare state must be preserved, that education should be free, public and laic.
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The conservative Christian leadership includes both hypocritical clerics like Robertson, Falwell, Dobson and Phelps, and neocon laic politicians like Bush, Ashcroft, Frisch and DeLay.
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Trapbois will none of them, whether clerical or laic.
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However, they were nothing less, as Master Aedituus told us; assuring us, at the same time, that they were neither secular nor laic; and the truth is, the diversity of their feathers and plumes did not a little puzzle us.
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
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