discipleship

English

Etymology

From disciple +‎ -ship.

Noun

discipleship (countable and uncountable, plural discipleships)

1. (uncountable) The condition of being a disciple.

   Coordinate term: apostleship

   Near-synonyms: followership; apprenticeship, tutelage

   • 1927, Elbert Hubbard, The Notebook of Elbert Hubbard: Mottos, Epigrams, Short Essays, Passages, Orphic Sayings and Preachments: Coined from a Life of Love, Laugher and Work‎, William H. Wise and Company, page 197:

     The weaknesses of the many make the leader possible—and the man who craves disciples and wants followers is always more or less of a charlatan. The man of genuine worth and insight wants to be himself; and he wants others to be themselves, also. Discipleship is a degenerating process to all parties concerned. People who are able to do their own thinking should not allow others to do it for them.

2. (countable) The period during which a person is a disciple.

   Coordinate term: apprenticeship

Translations

condition of being a disciple

Finnish: oppiluus French: discipulat m German: Jüngersein n, Jüngerschaft f Italian: discepolato m Persian: ارادت (fa) (erâdat) Polish: uczniostwo n Scottish Gaelic: deisciobalachd f

period during which a person is a disciple