Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Relating to, characteristic of, or suitable for a pope or bishop.
- adj. Having the dignity, pomp, or authority of a pontiff or bishop.
- adj. Pompously dogmatic or self-important; pretentious.
- n. The vestments and insignia of a pontiff or bishop.
- n. A book of forms for ceremonies performed by a bishop.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of, belonging to, or befitting a pontiff or high priest.
- Of or pertaining to a bishop.
- Of or pertaining to the Pope of Rome; papal; popish.
- n. In liturgics, an office-book of the Western Church, containing the forms for the sacraments and other rites and ceremonies which can be performed only by a bishop (especially those for ordination, confirmation, and consecration of churches), the changes in the rubrics necessary when a bishop officiates, benedictions, and other forms, some of which can be used by priests who have received special commission from the bishop. Pontificals were probably first introduced in the eighth century. In the Anglican Church since the Reformation the office of confirmation is contained in the Book of Common Prayer, to which the ordinal also is united. In the Greek Church the offices for confirmation and ordination are included in the Euchologion.
- n. plural The insignia of a pontiff; the dress, ornaments, etc., of a bishop or pope, or, more loosely, those of a priest. See pontificalia.
- n. A kind of ouch in use in the sixteenth century.
- Of or pertaining to bridge-building.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of or pertaining to a pontiff.
- adj. Pompous, dignified or dogmatic.
- adj. Of or pertaining to the pontifices of Ancient Rome.
- n. A book containing the offices, or formulas, used by a pontiff.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to a pontiff, or high priest; ; hence, belonging to the pope; papal.
- adj. rare Of or pertaining to the building of bridges.
- n. A book containing the offices, or formulas, used by a pontiff.
- n. The dress and ornaments of a pontiff.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. proceeding from or ordered by or subject to a pope or the papacy regarded as the successor of the Apostles
- adj. denoting or governed by or relating to a bishop or bishops
- adj. puffed up with vanity
- n. the vestments and other insignia of a pontiff (especially a bishop)
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pontificālis, of a pontifex, from pontifex, pontific-, pontifex; see pontifex. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“There are only three institutions with the title pontifical: (1) The Pontifical Seminary of Kandy, Ceylon; (2) The Pontifical Seminary of Scutari (Collegium”
“This must be demonstrated not in pontifical phrases in front of the Empire Club but in actions that are producing the results we talk about.”
“Many innovations on these rights have been made by special decrees or customs, and, according to the prevailing discipline, account must be taken of the so-called pontifical reservations, or the rights which the pope has reserved to himself, especially as regards the highest dignity of the chapter, and also of the legitimate privileges possessed by patrons in Spain,”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery
“Three years previously (1271) Charles of Anjou had drawn together the remnants of the army of his dead brother, had confiscated to his own use the goods of the crusading knights whose vessels had been wrecked on the coast of Sicily, and called the pontifical court to”
“For, as I shall belaborate below, a normal man is a vertical man -- or what Schuon called pontifical man.”
“Fisichella is president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, one of a number of so-called pontifical academies which are formed by or under the direction of the Holy See.”
“Inured to bear the yoke of proteftant in - corporations, at the fame time that they flirink with horror from the idea of pontifical tyranny; they imagine that as popery began in the refcript of Phocas, in the feventh century, it ended in pro - teftant nations, when their feveral princes were ieen under the proteftant banner.”
“In the Catholic Church and their canon law, certain positions (seminary professors, some church professors) are mandated to receive degrees from accredited schools, which are indicated by the use of the word "pontifical".”
“His words sounded to me like a kind of pontifical blessing pronounced at the end of a liturgical service; and, dinner now being over, we adjourned to the library.”
“In the end, however, he lived down this state of things to a large extent, and in his old age was the object of extraordinary general veneration, while in his own communion he exercised a kind of pontifical sway.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pontifical’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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DEF's list
Obscure Words
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To Learn & Use
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ash
ash
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GRE 3500 O
oblivion, oblivious, obstetrician, obstinate, obstreperous, outlandish, outmoded, obtrude, obtuse, obviate, odious, odorous and 52 more...
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The Character Analysis
Adjectives, words that describe people
facetious, irascible, sapient, perspicacious, pompous, hubristic, taciturn, reticent, viraginous, captious, capricious, coquettish and 32 more...
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P
paronomasia, peregrinate, pejorative, Philistine, pointillistic, prolix, presbyopia, presumably, probation, proclaim, protean, purportedly and 26 more...
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difficult-list36
philistine, philology, phlegmatic, physiognomy, piebald, piecemeal, pied, piety, pillory, pinion, piquant, pique and 27 more...
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