archbishop

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A bishop of the highest rank, heading an archdiocese or province.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A title used in the Christian church as early as the fourth century, and regularly given in that and the next four centuries to the bishops of the highest rank, afterward known as patriarchs. It was also occasionally applied in the East to exarchs and metropolitans of sees of exceptional antiquity or dignity, and was sometimes extended in later times to others of the same rank as a special distinction. In the West, from the eighth or ninth century, the title was given to metropolitans of every class, and this is still the use of the Roman Catholic Church. Archbishops have certain rights of honor and jurisdiction over their suffragan bishops (that is, the bishops of the dioceses making up their ecclesiastical province), such as those of calling and presiding over provincial councils, receiving appeals in certain cases, etc.; but these rights, formerly very considerable, are now comparatively limited. At present the archbishop is not always a metropolitan, since there have long been a few archbishoprics without suffragans, and oftener still the title is purely honorary. See primate. The insignia of an archbishop in the Roman Catholic Church are the woolen pallium, before receiving which from the pope he cannot exercise the functions of his office, and the double cross borne processionally before him. In the Anglican Church there are four archbishops, two in the Church of England (those of Canterbury and York, the former of whom is metropolitan of all England), and two in the Church of Ireland (those of Armagh and Dublin, the former of whom is primate). The Church of Sweden has one archbishop, whose see is at Upsala. Abbreviated to abp.

Wiktionary

1. n. In the Roman Catholic Church and other churches, a senior bishop who is in charge of an archdiocese, and presides over a group of dioceses called a province.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A chief bishop; a church dignitary of the first class (often called a metropolitan or primate) who superintends the conduct of the suffragan bishops in his province, and also exercises episcopal authority in his own diocese.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a bishop of highest rank