antipope

[an-ti-pohp]

noun

a person who is elected or claims to be pope in opposition to another held to be canonically chosen.

Origin of antipope

1570–80; anti- + pope; replacing antipape < Medieval Latin antipāpa, modeled on Antichrīstus Antichrist

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for antipope

Historical Examples of antipope

Yet even now they seemed to shrink from the creation of an antipope.
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07
Various
But Boniface treated him as an antipope, and himself as the only Pope.
Curiosities of Christian History
Croake James
Lewis answered the pope by setting up an antipope against him.
Sketches of Church History
James Craigie Robertson
The object of this one is to elect an antipope who will be the exterminating Antichrist.
L-bas
J. K. Huysmans
What a God-given opportunity to humble the Antipope and bring the unfriendly kings to his feet!
Peter the Hermit
Daniel A. Goodsell

British Dictionary definitions for antipope

antipope

noun

a rival pope elected in opposition to one who has been canonically chosen

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for antipope

also anti-pope, early 15c. (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), from Medieval Latin antipapa, from Greek anti- "against" (see anti-) + papa (see pope).