simoniac

[ si-moh-nee-ak ]

noun

1. a person who practices simony.

simoniac

/ ˌsaɪməˈnaɪəkəl; sɪˈməʊnɪˌæk /

noun

1. a person who is guilty of practising simony

Derived Forms

• ˌsimoˈniacally, adverb
• simoniacal, adjective

Other Words From

• si·mo·ni·a·cal [sahy-m, uh, -, nahy, -, uh, -k, uh, l, sim-, uh, -], adjective
• simo·nia·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of simoniac¹

1300–50; Middle English < Medieval Latin simoniacus (noun and adj.). See simony, -ac

Example Sentences

Enoch's character has many fathers: the thundering preachers included on the Sermons disc of the Goodbye Babylon box set, Robert Duvall in The Apostle, the many novels that take the figure of the false prophet, Simoniac, or tormented preacher as their archetype.

From The Guardian

He said, when it was suggested to remove the mural portraits of that pope, "Even if the portraits were destroyed, the walls themselves would remind me of that Simoniac, that Jew!"

From Project Gutenberg

The perplexity of the situation was aggravated by the fact that, if the stricter view was adopted, it followed that the sacrament of ordination must be pronounced invalid, even in the cases where it had been unconsciously sought at the hands of a simoniac, for the dispenser was in point of fact no bishop, although he exercised the episcopal functions and his transgressions were unknown, and consequently it was impossible for him to ordain others.

From Project Gutenberg

In the time of Gregory the conflict was still swaying to and fro, and he himself in 1078 declared consecration by a simoniac null and void.

From Project Gutenberg

Sotheby's, with Christie's not far behind, has led the field in this enterprise of simoniac strip-mining.

From Time Magazine Archive