pontiff
[ pon-tif ]
/ ˈpɒn tɪf /
noun
any pontifex.
any high or chief priest.
Ecclesiastical.
- a bishop.
- the Roman Catholic pope, the Bishop of Rome.
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Nearby words
- pontic,
- pontic mountains,
- pontics,
- pontifex,
- pontifex maximus,
- pontific,
- pontifical,
- pontifical college,
- pontifical mass,
- pontificals
Origin of pontiff
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for pontiff
pontiff
/ (ˈpɒntɪf) /
noun
a former title of the pagan high priest at Rome, later used of popes and occasionally of other bishops, and now confined exclusively to the pope
Word Origin for pontiff
C17: from French pontife, from Latin pontifex
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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pontiff
c.1600, "high priest," from French pontif (early 16c.), from Latin pontifex, title of a Roman high priest (see pontifex). Used for "bishop" in Church Latin, but not recorded in that sense in English until 1670s, specifically "the bishop of Rome," the pope. Pontifical, however, is used with this sense from mid-15c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pontiff
Another name for the pope. Pontiff comes from a Latin word, meaning “bridge builder,” that was used as a title for some of the priests of ancient Rome.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.