acolyte
noun
Did you know?
Follow the etymological path of acolyte back far enough and you'll arrive at kéleuthos, a Greek noun that means "path" and that is itself the parent of akólouthos, an adjective that means "following." Akólouthos traveled from Greek, leaving offspring in Medieval Latin and Anglo-French; its English descendant, acolyte, emerged in the 14th century. Originally, acolyte was exclusively a term for a person who assisted a priest at Mass, but by the 19th century, the word had acquired additional meanings, among them "attendant body, satellite" (a meaning used in astronomy) and "attendant insect" (a zoological sense), as well as the general meaning "assistant" or "sidekick."
Examples of acolyte in a Sentence
Frank Landymore, Futurism, 12 Mar. 2026
There had always been a few Kennedy acolytes hanging around the block, Dean says, but that number has ballooned since Ryan Murphy’s Love Story premiered in February.
—Clio Chang, Curbed, 12 Mar. 2026
Smith has never been the indefatigable champion of free enterprise imagined by his acolytes.
—Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026
The White Lotus’s Leslie Bibb, whose red-carpet look from Ashi Studio also earned high marks, spent part of the evening laughing with fellow Ryan Murphy acolyte Sarah Paulson.
—Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 2 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for acolyte
Cite this Entry
“Acolyte.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acolyte. Accessed 17 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
acolyte
noun
