Meaning & use
parsonage
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
The home that a church owns and lets its minister live in.
Grammar: Usually refers to a specific house: the parsonage next to the chapel.
Patterns
- live in the parsonage
- the parsonage of a church
The new minister moved into the parsonage beside the chapel.
Brontë novels are set in a quiet country parsonage.
The congregation repaired the roof of the parsonage last spring.
Word forms
| plural | parsonages |
|---|
Common combinations
- the village parsonage
- Children played in the garden of the village parsonage.
- a stone parsonage
- A stone parsonage stood next to the old church.
- live in a parsonage
- They lived in a parsonage for fifteen years.
- parsonage garden
- Tea was served in the parsonage garden.
Synonyms and how they differ
- vicarage
- A vicarage is the house of a vicar in the Church of England, so it is tied to that tradition, while parsonage is more general.
- rectory
- A rectory belongs to a rector and is also an Anglican or Catholic term.
- manse
- A manse is the minister's home in Scottish and some other Presbyterian churches.
- presbytery
- A presbytery is a Catholic priest's residence, not a Protestant minister's.
Word family
- parson noun
- a minister, especially of a parish church
- parsonical adjective
- of or like a parson, now rare
Commonly confused: parsonage or personage?
parsonage vs personage
A personage is an important person. A parsonage is a house for a minister.
Practice
The minister and his family lived in the ___ next door to the church.
Choose one answer.
A parsonage is the church-owned home of a minister. Personage means an important person, patronage means support, and parentage means ancestry.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “parsonage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.