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clarissa

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Clarissa¹

  • /kləˈɹɪsə/

Rhymes with -ɪsə

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Italian Clarissa, from Medieval Latin Clarissa; see there for more. Popularized in English by Samuel Richardson's 1748 novel Clarissa. Doublet of Clarisse.

proper noun

  1. A female given name from Latin or Italian. My wife's maiden name—Unmarried name, I should rather say […] was Harlowe—Clarissa Harlowe—you heard me call her my Clarissa— I did—but I thought it to be a feigned or a love-name, said Miss Rawlins. […] No—it was her real name, I said.

noun Clarissas · clarissa

  1. Synonym of Poor Clare: a nun of the Order of Saint Clare. Following Francis' example, Clare founded an order of religious women known as the Poor Ladies of Assisi (like Francis' Poor Men), and later as the Clarissas or Poor Clares in her honor.

    Similar: Poor Clare

clarissa²

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Italian clarissa, from Medieval Latin Clarissa; see there for more. Doublet of Clarisse, Clare, and Clarist.

noun clarissas

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Clarissa: a nun of the Order of Saint Clare. […] all these obscene references of a sexual nature punctuate the ritualistic prodigality of the Northeast and its winter cycle, and if in the main popular qualification of the character of the clarissa nun called Maria Ermelinda Correia, the composer of the sweet in the mouth of the people, as an e

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: clarinda, clarisse, clara, clelia, clementina, claira, claudia, clœlia, clair, clarice, lucilla, clemence, calista, francesca, concordia, claribel

Translations

Every language

noun female given name

FrançaisClarisse
ItalianoClarissa

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Cite this
MLA

"clarissa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/clarissa. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

clarissa. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/clarissa

Chicago

"clarissa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/clarissa.

BibTeX
@misc{clarissa_2026,
  title = {clarissa},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/clarissa},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}