Meaning & use
churchgoer
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A person who goes to church services, especially one who attends regularly.
Grammar: Countable: one churchgoer, two churchgoers. Often used with 'regular' or 'devout'.
Patterns
- a regular churchgoer
- a devout churchgoer
- churchgoer at a church
My grandmother is a regular churchgoer and never misses Sunday service.
The survey found that churchgoers tend to volunteer more in their communities.
He stopped being a churchgoer after he moved to another city.
Word forms
| plural | churchgoers |
|---|
Common combinations
- regular churchgoer
- She is a regular churchgoer who attends both Sunday services.
- devout churchgoer
- Her parents were devout churchgoers and raised her in the faith.
- churchgoer attendance
- Churchgoer attendance has declined in many parts of Europe.
- practicing churchgoer
- He describes himself as a practicing churchgoer, though he rarely talks about it.
Synonyms and how they differ
- worshipper
- Broader; a worshipper can belong to any religion, while a churchgoer specifically attends Christian services.
- congregant
- More formal; it refers to a member of a particular congregation, not just anyone who goes to church.
- believer
- Focuses on faith rather than attendance; a believer may not go to church at all.
Word family
- churchgoing adjective
- Describing the habit of attending church, as in 'a churchgoing family'.
- church noun
- The building or the institution itself.
Commonly confused: churchgoer or churchman?
churchgoer vs churchman
A churchman is a male member of the clergy or a church leader, not simply someone who attends services.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'churchgoer' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Churchgoer' is a countable noun for a person who attends church, so sentence B fits. A uses it as if it were a building, C uses it as a verb, and D uses it as a noun meaning 'condition', all wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “churchgoer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.