D defs.my
Entry 1 sense Webster, 1913

Priestcraft

· Priest·craft · IPA
01 n. Priestly policy; the policy of a priesthood; esp., in an ill sense, fraud or imposition in religious concerns; management by priests to gai…
  1. 1.
    Priestly policy; the policy of a priesthood; esp., in an ill sense, fraud or imposition in religious concerns; management by priests to gain wealth and power by working upon the religious motives or credulity of others.
    “It is better that men should be governed by priestcraft than by violence.” Macaulay.