Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The buying or selling of ecclesiastical pardons, offices, or emoluments.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act or practice of trafficking in sacred things; particularly, the buying or selling of ecclesiastical preferment, or the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice for money or reward.
Wiktionary
- n. The act of buying and selling ecclesiastical offices and pardons.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The crime of buying or selling ecclesiastical preferment; the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice for money or reward.
WordNet 3.0
- n. traffic in ecclesiastical offices or preferments
Etymologies
- From Old French simonie, from Late Latin simonia, named from Simon Magus, with reference to Acts 8:18-20: (Wiktionary)
- Middle English simonie, from Old French, from Late Latin simōnia, after Simon Magus, a sorcerer who tried to buy spiritual powers from the Apostle Peter (Acts 8:9-24). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Divine laws the term simony is applicable only to the exchange of supernatural treasures for temporal advantages, its meaning has been further extended through ecclesiastical legislation.”
“The term simony comes from a sorcerer named Simon Magus, who tried to bribe the Apostles into selling him their power (Acts 8: 18-20).”
“(Acts 8: 9-24) The memory of his peculiar guilt has been perpetuated in the word simony, as applied to all traffic in spiritual offices.”
“It had been told him that his admission into the Order had been connected with the bestowal of temporal goods, and from this comes the sin called simony, which consists in the purchase of something spiritual with something temporal.”
“V with regard to episcopal elections, and passed several disciplinary decrees directed against existing abuses, such as simony and concubinage among the clergy.”
“For this kind of simony places on a par things supernatural and things natural, things eternal and things temporal, and constitutes a sacrilegious depreciation of Divine treasures.”
“They followed no definite ecclesiastico-political programme, but directed their attacks principally against individual offences such as simony, marriage of the clergy, and the uncanonical marriage of the laity.”
“One such sin, so subtle, so dangerous, and so constantly recurring in Christian history, having taken the name of its first author and being called "simony," has been handed down from generation to generation.”
“Preeminent among Luther's complaints were the practice of selling of indulgences (essentially, the selling of forgiveness for sin), the practice of "simony" (selling church positions), and the Church's policy on purgatory.”
“She supported synods that reformed abuses that were so prevalent at the time, such as simony and usury.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘simony’.
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 269 more...
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JURI - crimes and offences
Don't commit any of these if you can
firearms trafficking, serious and organ..., trafficking in hu..., illegal shipment ..., cybercrime, money laundering, sale of counterfe..., sale of dangerous..., smuggling, infraction, corruption, organised crime and 153 more...
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Dirty Deeds, Acts & Villainous Arcana
Villains, evildoers, and the wonderful words to describe them.
putsch, internecine, galère, stygian, infernal, opprobrium, anathema, bruit, scurrility, mulct, misanthropic, invective and 102 more...
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Postscripture ✞
Terms associated with the Christianity, The Bible, etc. I have a related, but more narrow list called Imbible Code.
A related list is Words Associated With Jesus.apostole, pharaoh, sodom, babel, sabbath, baptize, cherub, elohim, lapsarian, crucifixion, nephilim, hosanna and 195 more...
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phrontistery-s
from phrontistery.info
sabaton, sabbatarian, sabbulonarium, sabelline, sabin, sable, sabliere, sabot, sabretache, sabulous, saburration, saccade and 1593 more...
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JURI - courtroom speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
accused, acquittal, ADA, adjournment, adjudication, affidavit, affirmed, aggravated range, aggravating factors, allegation, alleged, answer and 794 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Mony Mony
Here she comes now sayin' Mony Mony...
alimony, parsimony, antimony, acrimony, ceremony, harmony, hegemony, lemony, matrimony, sanctimony, simony, testimony and 25 more...
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Simon-pure
simon-pure, Paul Simon, simony, Simon Legree, parsimony, Binet-Simon scale, simple simon, Simone de Beauvoir, simon, Simon, simoniac, quasi-monochromatic and 16 more...
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remnants of a catholic childhood
extreme unction, viaticum, maundy thursday, spy wednesday, good friday, papabile, monstrance, septuagesima, monsignor, thurible, chasuble, alb and 110 more...
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hildjj's Words
bookmarklet, demisemiquaver, zeitgeist, hermeneutics, oligarch, quisling, absinthe, mellifluent, verisimilitude, implacable, necrotic, nacreous and 243 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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Appellations
States of ment.
off kilter, fervent, nonchalant, exuberant, turbid, verbose, eloquent, vicarious, gallivant, orotund, amalgamate, accentuate and 285 more...
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bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1402 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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kingrat47's Words
procrustean, devolution, cacophony, hippopotamus, crunch, beware, chortled, sibilant, subtle, undermine, acromegaly, acropolis and 645 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for simony.
arby NOUN: The buying or selling of ecclesiastical pardons, offices, or emoluments.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English simonie, from Old French, from Late Latin simnia, after Simon Magus, a sorcerer who tried to buy spiritual powers from the Apostle Peter (Acts 8:9–24).
OTHER FORMS: simo·nist —NOUN May 15, 2007