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antipope

[an-ti-pohp]
noun
  1. a person who is elected or claims to be pope in opposition to another held to be canonically chosen.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for antipope

Historical Examples

  • 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.

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

n.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper