Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The pope.
- noun A bishop.
- noun A pontifex.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In Roman antiquity, a chief priest: same as
pontifex , 1. - noun A Jewish high priest.
- noun Eccles., a bishop; especially, the Bishop of Rome, as the head of the church; the Pope. Also called the supreme pontiff.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun 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 . - noun (Jewish Antiq.) The chief priest.
- noun (R. C. Ch.) The pope.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the head of the Roman Catholic Church
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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FESSIO: Well, yes, pontiff comes from the Latin word "pontifex," which means a builder of a bridge.
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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 Christian Artist 2009
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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 2010
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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.
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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 2005
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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.
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Bulgarian king and the Roman pontiff is inscribed in the Gesta
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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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.
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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.
Archive 2009-02-01 elena maria vidal 2009
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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.
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