Dictionary

pontifical en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /pɑnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/ (General-American)
• /pɒnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pent- Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s Proto-Italic *ponts Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-faks Proto-Italic *pontifaks Latin pontifex Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin pontificālislbor. English pontifical Learned borrowing from Latin pontificālis.

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to a pontiff. ▸ Of or pertaining to a bishop; episcopal.
2. Of or pertaining to a pontiff. ▸ Of or pertaining to a pope; papal.
3. Pompous, dignified or dogmatic.
4. Splendid; magnificent.
5. Of or pertaining to the pontifices of Ancient Rome.
6. (poetic) Of or relating to the building or forming of bridges.
   • Now had they brought the work by wondrous art / Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock / Over the vexed abyss. 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

pontifical cell · unpontifical · pontifically · pontificality

Translations (12)

fi mahtipontinen (pompous, dignified or dogmatic) · bg папски (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · pt pontifical (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · gv ard-saggyrtagh (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · es pontificio (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · fr pontifical (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · nl pontificaal (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · fi mahtava (pompous, dignified or dogmatic) · it pontificio (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · ca pontifical (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · fi paavillinen (of or pertaining to a pontiff) · hu főpapi (of or pertaining to a pontiff)

pontifical en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /pɑnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/ (General-American)
• /pɒnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pent- Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s Proto-Italic *ponts Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-faks Proto-Italic *pontifaks Latin pontifex Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin pontificālislbor. English pontifical Learned borrowing from Latin pontificālis.

Meanings

1. A book containing the offices, or formulas, used by a pontiff.
   • If the editio princeps was an attempt to create an authoritative version of the pontifical, such was not yet attainable. 2007, Terence Bailey, Alma Colk Santosuosso, editors, Music in Medieval Europe […] , Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., →ISBN, page 199:
   • Both ordines are related to an ordo in a pontifical in Reims, the Ordo of 1200 (Ordo XIX). The latter was to be consulted again and again, and its formulas were to have a marked effect upon the French ceremony; […] 1995, Richard A. Jackson, Ordines coronationis Franciae […] , page 30:
   • William Durandus, bishop of Mende in the south of France, compiled a pontifical in three books. William never intended his work to be a universal pontifical, but its clarity of arrangement and quality of substance, along with […] 2001, Leon F. Strieder, The Promise of Obedience: A Ritual History, page 32:

Forms