pastor
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a leader in a Christian church who gives advice and leads services.
n.a minister or priest with spiritual charge over a specific congregation or group of people.
Simple“The pastor gave a moving speech during the Sunday morning service.”
In context“After the service, the pastor spent several hours visiting elderly members of the congregation who were unable to attend in person.”
- 02 C2 Proficiency
n.an old word for a person who looks after sheep.
n.a person who tends a flock of animals, specifically a shepherd. This sense is largely restricted to historical or poetic contexts.
Simple“In the old story, a lonely pastor watched his sheep on the hillside.”
In context“The poet uses the image of the faithful pastor to represent a leader who protects his followers from harm.”
Synonymsshepherdherder - 03 C1 Advanced
v.to work as the leader of a church group.
v.to serve a congregation in the capacity of a pastor; to provide spiritual leadership and oversight.
Simple“She has pastored this small community church for over twenty years.”
In context“He felt a profound calling to pastor the urban congregation, despite the significant social and economic challenges the neighborhood faced.”
UsageOften used as an intransitive verb or with a direct object representing the congregation.
“From the age of six, she sang in the local church where her grandfather was the pastor, and was performing on her local TV station by the time she was a teenager.”
“Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, survived the lunch after weeks in hospital and still has ongoing health issues related to the poisoning.”
From Middle English pastour, from Old French pastor (Modern French pasteur), from Latin pāstor.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.