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Clergyman vs Layman - What's the difference?

clergyman | layman |

As nouns the difference between clergyman and layman

is that clergyman is an ordained (male) Christian minister, a male member of the clergy while layman is layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy.

clergyman

English

Noun

(clergymen)
  • An ordained (male) Christian minister, a male member of the clergy.

    • Coordinate terms

    * clergywoman

    Hypernyms

    * clergyperson

    Holonyms

    * clergy

    layman

    English

    (wikipedia layman)

    Noun

    (laymen)
  • layperson, someone who is not an ordained cleric or member of the clergy
  • by analogy, someone who is not a professional in a given field
    • Carmen is not a professional anthropologist, but strictly a layman .
    Let me explain it to you in layman's terms.
  • a common person
  • a person who is untrained or lacks knowledge of a subject
  • * 2005 , .
    • should he be held to be just a layman , or does he have some art?
  • a generally ignorant person
  • lay-sister or lay-brother, person received into a convent of monks, following the vows, but not being member of the order

    • Antonyms

    * expert * specialist * professional

    Derived terms

    * in layman's terms

    Related terms

    * laity