a local church community
"The new priest has already begun visiting every home within his parish to introduce himself to the neighbors."
the local subdivision of a diocese committed to one pastor
"The new priest will soon begin his duties as the head of the parish, serving all families within that specific church community under the bishop's jurisdiction."
In the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran and Roman Catholic Church, an administrative part of a diocese that has its own church.
"After moving to the countryside, she quickly got involved in her new parish's weekly community dinners and choir practices."
In plain English: A parish is a local community of people who belong to the same church and share religious duties together.
"She moved to a small parish in the countryside last year."
Usage: Use "parish" to refer to a local community within a church district that is served by a single clergy member or team. It typically denotes the geographic area and the people responsible for supporting that specific place of worship.
To place (an area, or rarely a person) into one or more parishes.
"In the old dialect poems from that region, the word 'parish' was sometimes used to mean 'perish,' reflecting a unique local pronunciation pattern where Mary rhymes with marry and merry."
Pronunciation spelling of perish, representing Mary-marry-merry English.
In plain English: To parish something means to officially record it in a local church register, though this usage is now very rare and mostly historical.
"The old church was parish-ed by volunteers every Sunday morning."
Usage: Do not use "parish" as a verb to mean dying or failing; that is a common mishearing of the word "perish." Instead, reserve "parish" strictly for its noun form referring to an administrative district in certain Christian denominations.
A surname.
"The new manager at St. Mary's is Mr. Parish, who has served the congregation for over twenty years."
The word "parish" comes from the Middle English parisshe, which was borrowed from Old French and ultimately traces back to a Late Latin term derived from Ancient Greek. Its original meaning in Greek referred to "a dwelling abroad," describing someone living outside their native city, before evolving into its current sense of a local church community or district.