Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A nun in charge of a priory or ranking next below the abbess of an abbey.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A female prior, having charge of a religious house; a woman who is the coadjutor of and next in rank to an abbess.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A lady superior of a priory of nuns, and next in dignity to an abbess.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
nun in charge of apriory ; anabbess ormother superior
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the superior of a group of nuns
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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The term prioress is properly applied only to a superioress in a convent which has the papal approbation and whose members make solemn profession, that is, to convents which belong to an order in the strict sense of the word.
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All the sisters here are quite happy, and the prioress is extremely good.
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The prioress is quite well and happy; she is much better than I am, and she is also exceedingly devoted to your ladyship.
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Both of them are confined to their bed, and the sub-prioress is dangerously ill.
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The prioress is so well skilled in these matters, that she has made the bargain with one of her friends, who knows it was for this house.
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If the prioress is the first superior, her authority over the convent is similar to that of a conventual prior over his priory; if the first superior is an abbess, the office of the prioress is similar to that of a claustral prior in an abbey.
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The prioress is another respectable person, coy and simple, with dainty fingers, small mouth, and clean attire, -- a refined sort of a woman for that age, ornamented with corals and brooch, so stately as to be held in reverence, yet so sentimental as to weep for a mouse caught in a trap: all characteristic of a respectable, kind-hearted lady who has lived in seclusion.
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It was Claiming Our Truth, a volume of essays edited by Sister Nadine Foley, OP, prioress of a Dominican community in Adrian, Michigan, and a past president of LCWR.
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Ordered by her prioress to complete an account of her childhood memories, she was trying unsuccessfully to write:
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Ordered by her prioress to complete an account of her childhood memories, she was trying unsuccessfully to write:
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