mother church
Americannoun
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a church from which other churches have had their origin or derived their authority.
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a cathedral or a metropolitan church.
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the church attended in one's youth or for the greater part of one's life.
Etymology
Origin of mother church
Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A former nurse made history Wednesday when she was enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to lead the centuries-old mother church of the world's 85 million-strong Anglican community.
From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026
Its survival and growth since the forcible closure of its Beijing mother church in 2018 only adds embarrassment to alarm.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025
"The mother church of Constantinople is ready to assist its children in Ukraine and Russia once again, as it has done on multiple occasions in the past", he said.
From Reuters • Mar. 22, 2023
The Anglican Churches in Africa have an increasingly tense relationship with their mother church over Biblical interpretations of issues like same-sex marriage.
From BBC • Jun. 18, 2022
In Jerusalem the new movement had its centre, and the church established there is rightly known as the mother church of Christendom.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
