curia

American  

[kyoor-ee-uh] / ˈkyʊər i ə /

noun

plural

curiae

1. one of the political subdivisions of each of the three tribes of ancient Rome.

2. the building in which such a division or group met, as for worship or public deliberation.

3. the senate house in ancient Rome.

4. the senate of an ancient Italian town.

5. (sometimes initial capital letter) Curia Romana.

6. the papal court.

7. the administrative aides of a bishop.

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curia British  

/ ˈkjʊərɪə /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) the papal court and government of the Roman Catholic Church

2. 1. any of the ten subdivisions of the Latin, Sabine, or Etruscan tribes

   2. a meeting place of such a subdivision

   3. the senate house of Rome

   4. the senate of an Italian town under Roman administration

3. (in the Middle Ages) a court held in the king's name See also Curia Regis

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Other Word Forms

• curial adjective

Etymology

Origin of curia

1590–1600; < Latin cūria, perhaps < *coviria, equivalent to co- co- + vir man + -ia -ia

Example Sentences

He helped promote clerics in his and John Paul II’s mold in the Roman curia, the bureaucracy that runs the church, as well as in dioceses and orders around the world.

From New York Times • Dec. 31, 2022

The curia owns the building at 12 Wislna St. that has housed the magazine since 1945.

From Washington Times • Jan. 5, 2021

“He wasn’t guilty,” said Rodrigo Valdivia, the San Diego diocese’s vice-moderator of the curia, “but that’s not to say he was innocent.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 14, 2018

He subsequently rose to major posts inside the Roman curia — the rarefied bureaucracy that runs Vatican City.

From Washington Post • Aug. 27, 2018

In point of fact, the best men who were there—the Gersons, the Peter d’Aillys, the Zabarellas—were as unflinching as the worst creatures of the curia.

From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Lea, Henry Charles