mendicant
Lives on charity
A mendicant is a beggar—someone who lives by asking others for money or food.
The term applies especially to members of certain religious orders, such as Franciscan or Dominican friars, who renounce property and support themselves through charitable donations rather than owning land or earning wages.
As an adjective, mendicant describes this practice of begging or the lifestyle that depends on it: mendicant friars wandered the countryside preaching and accepting alms.
One who asks for charity
- panhandlerOne who begs publicly
- pauperPerson in extreme poverty
- almsmanOne supported by charity
- supplicantOne who humbly entreats
petitioner · cadger · moocher · scrounger · down-and-out · destitute
Mendicant order member
- monkCloistered religious devotee
- nunHebrew alphabet's fourteenth
- FranciscanMendicant order member
- DominicanPreaching order member
Carmelite · Augustinian · dervish · sadhu · fakir · faqir · bonze · pilgrim
Formal surrender of claim
- fastingDeliberate food avoidance
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
- austerityEnforced economic stringency
- penanceSelf-mortification for wrongdoing
self-denial · mortification · celibacy · discipline · contemplation · meditation · solitude · simplicity
Gifts to the destitute
- beggingEarnest desperate requesting
- charityVoluntary aid for others
- donationVoluntary charitable gift
- offeringSomething presented or given
benefaction · almshouse · patronage · handout · generosity · benefactor · donor · compassion
Moving for work
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
- pilgrimReligious journey-taker
- wayfarerTraveler, especially walking
- homelessWithout a dwelling
vagrant · vagabond · roving · peripatetic · rootless · transient · nomadic · journeying
Freedom from arrogance
- meeknessGentle, unassertive disposition
- lowlinessState of modest rank
- self-effacementDownplaying one's importance
- modestyAbsence of vanity
unpretentiousness · submissiveness · obedience · piety · devotion · penitence · contrition · servility
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- indigenceExtreme poverty, total want
- penuryExtreme lack of money
- impoverishmentState of extreme deprivation
- pauperismCondition of being destitute
want · neediness · privation · hardship · penniless · dispossession · hand-to-mouth · threadbare
beggar
One who asks for charity
- panhandlerOne who begs publicly
- pauperPerson in extreme poverty
- almsmanOne supported by charity
supplicant · petitioner · cadger · moocher · scrounger · down-and-out · destitute
friar
Mendicant order member
- monkCloistered religious devotee
- nunHebrew alphabet's fourteenth
- FranciscanMendicant order member
Dominican · Carmelite · Augustinian · dervish · sadhu · fakir · faqir · bonze · pilgrim · almsman
renunciation
Formal surrender of claim
- fastingDeliberate food avoidance
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
- austerityEnforced economic stringency
penance · self-denial · mortification · celibacy · discipline · contemplation · meditation · solitude · simplicity · detachment
alms
Gifts to the destitute
offering · benefaction · almshouse · patronage · handout · generosity · benefactor · donor · compassion · relief
itinerant
Moving for work
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
- pilgrimReligious journey-taker
- wayfarerTraveler, especially walking
homeless · vagrant · vagabond · roving · peripatetic · rootless · transient · nomadic · journeying · unsettled
humility
Freedom from arrogance
- meeknessGentle, unassertive disposition
- lowlinessState of modest rank
- self-effacementDownplaying one's importance
modesty · unpretentiousness · submissiveness · obedience · piety · devotion · penitence · contrition · servility · deference
destitution
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- indigenceExtreme poverty, total want
- penuryExtreme lack of money
- impoverishmentState of extreme deprivation
pauperism · want · neediness · privation · hardship · penniless · dispossession · hand-to-mouth · threadbare · ragged
- asceticsascetic, ascetics, hermit, hermits, recluse
- Friarsfriar, friars, Franciscan, Franciscans, friary
- holy wandererswandering monk, itinerant preacher, pilgrim, sadhu, fakir
- medieval churchabbeys, abbey, abbot, abbots, abbess
- medieval clergypriest, monk, nun, bishop, abbot
- monasticsmonk, nun, abbot, nuns, abbess
mendicantself-sufficient
Able to provide independently
wealthy · affluent · independent · self-reliant · prosperous
mendicantbenefactor
One who gives aid
donor · philanthropist · almsgiver · patron · giver