shepherd
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A clergyman who watches over a group of people.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
shehperdSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈʃɛpɚd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A clergyman who watches over a group of people
countablefigurative
Someone who watches over, looks after, or guides somebody.
A herder of sheep (on an open range); someone who keeps the sheep together in a flock
countable
A person who tends sheep, especially a grazing flock.
christianitycountablefigurative
The pastor of a church; one who guides others in religion.
A male sheep tender
verb
Watch over like a shepherd, as a teacher of her pupils
transitive
To watch over; to guide.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A clergyman who watches over a group of people
Used this way, shepherd is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- sheepherder , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use shepherd
- “The shepherd guided his flock of sheep across the grassy hill.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any of various usually long-haired breeds of dog reared to herd and guard sheep.
Breed of large shepherd dogs used in police work and as a guide for the blind.
A teacher and prophet born in Bethlehem and active in Nazareth.
Hardy working dog developed in Belgium for herding sheep.
Breed of large shepherd dogs used in police work and as a guide for the blind.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.