pontifex
Americannoun
-
pontifices
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pontifex
1570–80; < Latin: apparently literally, path-maker, equivalent to ponti- (stem of pōns ) bridge, probably originally, path ( see pons) + -fec- (combining form of facere to make) + -s nominative singular ending; the literal application is unclear
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.
See Examples For:
The new pontifex maximus has much work ahead of him to wrangle the faithful into unity.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2025
If he sometimes sounds like a pontifex maximus, he generally talks neither down nor with false humility.
From Time Magazine Archive
The pope borrowed his title of pontifex maximus from the emperor: what is far more, he made himself gradually, and in the course of centuries, the Caesar and Imperator of the Church.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 "Electrostatics" to "Engis" by Various
Both consuls were anxious to obtain the command against him; Crassus was pontifex maximus, and Flaccus a flamen of Mars.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various
The ceremony required the presence of an augur and a pontifex to hold it.
From The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1 The Whole Extant Correspodence in Chronological Order by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh
The additions in the way of decree or comment would probably range over the fourth and third centuries B.C. like those of the pontifices.
From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler
I delivered a speech before the pontifices on the 29th of September.
From The Letters of Cicero, Volume 1 The Whole Extant Correspodence in Chronological Order by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh
I will finish this lecture by illustrating briefly this renewed and extended activity of the pontifices, so far as we can dimly trace it in this third century B.C.
From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler
Until the lex Domitia of 104 B.C. both pontifices and augurs filled up their own colleges with persons whom they believed qualified both by knowledge and disposition.
From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler
Putting these three facts together we can divine in outline the history of the pontifices during these two centuries.
From The Religious Experience of the Roman People From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus by W. Warde Fowler
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