clerisy

cler·i·sy  (klr-s)

n.

Educated people considered as a group; the literati.

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[German Klerisei, clergy, from Medieval Latin clricia, from Late Latin clricus, priest; see clerk.]

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clerisy

men of learning as a class or collectively; the intelligentsia or literati.

See also: Knowledge, Learning

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Clerisy, Clericity learned men as a body; scholars, 1818.

Example: the clerisy of a nation, that is its learned men, whether poets, or philosophers, or scholars, 1834.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

clerisy - an educated and intellectual elite intelligentsia elite, elite group - a group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status culturati - people interested in culture and cultural activities literati - the literary intelligentsia