Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A papal ambassador or representative.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A messenger; one who brings intelligence.
  • noun Specifically A papal messenger; a permanent diplomatic agent of the first rank, representing the Pope at the capital of a country entitled to that distinction.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A messenger.
  • noun The permanent official representative of the pope at a foreign court or seat of government. Distinguished from a legate a latere, whose mission is temporary in its nature, or for some special purpose. Nuncios are of higher rank than internuncios.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Ecclesiastic title of a permanent diplomatic representative of the Roman Catholic Church to a sovereign state or international organisation, accorded rank equivalent to an accredited ambassador, and may also be given additional privileges including recognition as Dean in a country's diplomatic corps.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Roman Catholic Church) a diplomatic representative of the Pope having ambassadorial status

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, from Latin nūntius, messenger; see neu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin nūntius ("envoy").

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