Postulants

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals seeking admission to a religious community or order
2. Candidates applying for a position or role, often in a formal or structured setting
3. People who express a desire or intention to join a group or organization, particularly in a spiritual or vocational context

Etymology: "Postulant" is the plural of "postulant," and the singular comes from Latin "postulans," the present participle of "postulare," meaning "to demand" or "to ask for." The root sense of asking survives in the word's core meaning: a postulant is someone who has put in a request for admission, not yet a full member. The Latin verb is related to "postulate," which came into English with the same sense of formally demanding or requiring something as a basic condition. In the Catholic Church and some religious orders, a postulant is the first formal stage of religious life, typically lasting several months to a couple of years before a candidate may be received as a novice. Religious use of the term was well established in English by the later Middle Ages, and the word's legal and ecclesiastical senses developed alongside each other from the same Latin root of petitioning.

Synonyms: candidates, applicants, aspirants, seekers, novices