exarch

¹ American  

[ek-sahrk] / ˈɛk sɑrk /

noun

1. Eastern Church.

   1. a patriarch's deputy.

   2. a title originally applied to a patriarch but later applied only to a bishop ranking below a patriarch and above a metropolitan.

2. the ruler of a province in the Byzantine Empire.

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exarch ² American  

[ek-sahrk] / ˈɛk sɑrk /

adjective

Botany.

1. (of a primary xylem or root) developing from the center; having the youngest cells closest to the core.

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exarch ¹ British  

/ ˈɛksɑːk /

noun

1. the head of certain autonomous Orthodox Christian Churches, such as that of Bulgaria and Cyprus

2. any of certain Eastern Orthodox bishops, lower in rank than a patriarch but higher than a metropolitan

3. the governor of a province in the Byzantine Empire

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exarch ² British  

/ ˈɛksɑːk /

adjective

1. botany (of a xylem strand) having the first-formed xylem external to that formed later Compare endarch mesarch

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Other Word Forms

• exarchal adjective

Etymology

Origin of exarch¹

1580–90; < Late Latin exarchus superintendent < Greek éxarchos overseer, leader, equivalent to ex- ex- ³ + -archos -arch

Origin of exarch²

1890–95; ex- ² + Greek archḗ beginning

Example Sentences

The exarch was a governor general, to whom the dukes, prefects or patricians, and also the governors of particular territories or cities, were subordinate.

From Project Gutenberg

Finally, in the pinnae of the frond the centrifugal xylem may disappear, the protoxylem being now exarch in position and abutting on the phloem.

From Project Gutenberg

It was well governed by the aged exarch Heraclius, who was so well liked in the province that the emperor had not dared to depose him.

From Project Gutenberg

The patriarch and his synod now stigmatized Phyletism, the struggle for a national church establishment, as accursed heresy, and excommunicated the exarch and the whole Bulgarian church.

From Project Gutenberg

In the modern Greek Church an exarch is a deputy, or legate a latere, of the patriarch, whose office it is to visit the clergy and churches in the provinces allotted to him.

From Project Gutenberg