OBLATE Synonyms: 65 Similar and Opposite Words

oblate

noun

Definition of oblate

as in friar

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of oblate The new archbishop is an associate member [oblate] of Pluscarden Abbey, a Benedictine community in Scotland, and is known as an able administrator who took decisions to re-organize the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. — Christopher Lamb, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 2025 For an oblate, prayer was an occupation, both a way to fill the day and a mystical way of healing the world. — Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025 In the north, Solomon knew, young oblates, the cherished daughters of gentlewomen, were given to the Lord out of the ranks of the nobility. — Cynthia Ozick, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023 But Earth is an oblate spheroid, meaning a 3D shape created by an ellipsis that’s rotating around its shorter axis—like a more rounded jelly donut. — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 12 Feb. 2020 This was unexpected at Jupiter—a heavy, fast rotating, oblate (flattened at the poles) planet. — Andrew Coates, Newsweek, 8 Mar. 2018

Recent Examples of Synonyms for oblate

Noun

The hotel works with a local Franciscan friar from Ravello, Friar Marcus, to introduce interested guests to the chapel, or whisk them on tours of Ravello, his local parish (and the home of Villas Cimbrone and Rufolo).

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
The analysis was specifically requested by the viceroy of New Spain as a test of the friar’s scientific expertise.

— ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of friar

Noun

The Bible’s message was seen as not only informative but salvific, and the monastic who memorized its words filled his or her soul with divine wisdom.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 July 2026
Historical questions remain, however, regarding whether such practices were primarily reserved for monastics or widely practiced among laypeople.

— Daniel M. Stuart, The Conversation, 16 Mar. 2026

Definition of monastic

Noun

Meanwhile, one monk intones that more offerings will bring the family greater blessing and peace.

— Lé Baltar, IndieWire, 8 Oct. 2026
What draws Béatrice’s attention is a fantastical claim made by a Benedictine monk in an Italian magazine article from the 1970s.

— Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of monk

Noun

Throughout much of Buddhist history, and particularly in Theravada Buddhist contexts, mindfulness and its associated meditation methods have been the purview of mendicants (monks and nuns), who used mindfulness meditation to achieve trance states (jhana) leading to nirvana.

— Charles Preston, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Apr. 2026
An internationally famous leader who lived a mendicant’s life.

— Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026

Definition of mendicant

Noun

Of all the precious goods accumulated by the rulers and ecclesiastics of late medieval Ethiopia, the most charged of all were books.

— Peter Brown, The New York Review of Books, 24 Sep. 2020
This shop for ecclesiastics has an exquisite selection of high-quality pieces.

— Zoe Ruffner, Vogue, 19 Dec. 2019

Definition of ecclesiastic

Noun

The youngest, a middle-school basketball coach who’s thinking about becoming a deacon or pastor, isn’t sure.

— Eric Lau, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2026
Then his neighbor, a deacon in his church, told him about a previous roommate who had died of cancer, and how he had recently been diagnosed himself.

— Blanca Begert, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of deacon

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“Oblate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oblate. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of oblate

noun

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