Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The pope.
- n. A bishop.
- n. A pontifex.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In Roman antiquity, a chief priest: same as pontifex, 1.
- n. A Jewish high priest.
- n. Eccles., a bishop; especially, the Bishop of Rome, as the head of the church; the Pope. Also called the supreme pontiff.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One of the sacred college, in ancient Rome, which had the supreme jurisdiction over all matters of religion, at the head of which was the
Pontifex Maximus . - n. (Jewish Antiq.) The chief priest.
- n. (R. C. Ch.) The pope.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the head of the Roman Catholic Church
Etymologies
- From Middle French pontife, from Latin pontifex. (Wiktionary)
- French pontife, from Old French pontif, from Latin pontifex, pontifex; see pent- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“FESSIO: Well, yes, pontiff comes from the Latin word "pontifex," which means a builder of a bridge.”
“The pontiff is celebrating Holy Week — the most solemn period in the Roman Catholic calendar — as allegations that the church covered up clerical sex abuse spread across Europe, including his native Germany, and the United States.”
Holy Thursday: Pope washes feet, Vatican slams media amid scandal
“Pope Benedict XVI sent greetings to Tour riders and organizers as the pack passed close to the Alpine retreat of Les Combes, overlooking Mont Blanc, where the pontiff is staying.”
“Here the pontiff is shown gesturing towards the people in the church, as the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove hovers by his side.”
“The resting place of the first pontiff is surrounded by coffins of many of his successors, joined Friday by John Paul.”
USATODAY.com - Millions of mourners bid farewell to Pope John Paul II
“Bruno confines his use of the word pontiff to three of the final sections on priestly vestments: Quid pallium significet, De vittis, and De summo pontifice.”
“Bulgarian king and the Roman pontiff is inscribed in the Gesta”
“The former deputy to Pope Benedict XVI when the pontiff was the Munich archbishop rebutted suggestions made in letters written by a friend that he had been pushed into taking sole responsibility for reassigning a pedophile priest to active ministry 30 years ago.”
The Wall Street Journal: Role of Pope's Ex-Deputy in Priest Case Questioned
“According to Martin, Leo IV (847-855) was succeeded in the papal chair by the Englishman John of Mainz (Johannes Anglicus) who reigned for two years, seven months, and four days until it was discovered that the pontiff was a woman.”
“This time the ever-bumbling Inspector Clouseau is on the ever-meandering trail of a thief who steals such priceless artifacts as the Magna Carta (nothing is made of that theft), the Shroud of Turin (Clouseau calls the pontiff Mr. Pope and detects that he's very spiritual) and the Pink Panther Diamond, whose re-disappearance -- it was stolen in the previous film too -- may have been required for the perfunctory script to fill 90 minutes.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pontiff’.
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POL - people in power
daredevil, tzar, king, boss, master, commander, chief, kingpin, top banana, bigwig, big cheese, big wheel and 452 more...
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Postscripture ✞
Terms associated with the Christianity, The Bible, etc. I have a related, but more narrow list called Imbible Code.
A related list is Words Associated With Jesus.apostole, pharaoh, sodom, babel, sabbath, baptize, cherub, elohim, lapsarian, crucifixion, nephilim, hosanna and 195 more...
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Logophile, The Back Page (AKA: just c...
node, nexus, locus, toroidal, ivory, kestrel, lyre, muscat, caldera, tapestry, codex, paragon and 103 more...
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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vocabulary
verisimilitude, pendulate, moxie, whimper, nary, stevedore, hubris, prodigious, super-injunction, injunction, lashings, fennel and 202 more...
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good ones
grumble, fumble, bumble, stumble, crumble, mumble, jumble, humble, bramble, scramble, amble, ramble and 191 more...
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Take Me To Your Whosit
About leaders, particularly the authority-figure at the top of the tree.
leader, chief, boss, cap'n, executive, president, head, tsar, alpha male, alpha female, conductor, dean and 127 more...
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DEF's list
Obscure Words
obfuscate, harbinger, morose, meniscus, conspicuous, grandiose, cogitated, matron, erudite, oness, apothegms, assuage and 475 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2263 more...
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Chromonyms
These chromonyms are defined as colors in at least one dictionary (mostly MW3). (Actually there's one fake, for reasons I'll explain someday.) They are all one-word nouns such as "kelly", which can...
absinthe, acacia, acorn, alabaster, alesan, almond, aloma, amaranth, amber, amethyst, anemone, anil and 821 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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spamdad's Words
lambic, weizenbock, bock, zymurgy, vade mecum, quotidian, sesquipedalian, eremite, sphragis, privation, aegis, sui generis and 275 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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GRE uncommon
patronage, expletive, exhort, exegesis, execrable, excommunicate, evince, escarpment, ersatz, ergo, epoxy, snare and 1202 more...
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Ffine ffettle
Words ending in double F
bailiff, mastiff, pontiff, plaintiff, distaff, dandruff, biff, blastoff, brushoff, bluff, buff, caitiff and 51 more...
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humorous
shrubbery, plonk, lugubrious, lederhosen, pantaloons, nincompoop, pontiff, aardvark, codpiece, chunter, fjords, dastardly
Tweets
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