pontificate
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
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pontificates,
present (3rd person singular)
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pontificated,
past participle, past
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pontificating
present participle
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to perform the office or duties of a pontiff.
-
to speak in a pompous or dogmatic manner.
Did he pontificate about the responsibilities of a good citizen?
-
to serve as a bishop, especially in a Pontifical Mass.
verb
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Also (less commonly): pontify. to speak or behave in a pompous or dogmatic manner
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to serve or officiate as a pontiff, esp in celebrating a Pontifical Mass
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pontificatesimple
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pontificatessimple
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have pontificatedperfect
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has pontificatedperfect
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am pontificatingprogressive
-
are pontificatingprogressive
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is pontificatingprogressive
-
have been pontificatingperfect progressive
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has been pontificatingperfect progressive
Past
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pontificatedsimple
-
had pontificatedperfect
-
was pontificatingprogressive
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were pontificatingprogressive
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had been pontificatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pontificate
First recorded in 1400–50. The noun is from Latin pontificātus, derivative of pontific- (stem of pontifex ) + -ātus noun suffix denoting office or function; see origin at pontifex, -ate 3. The verb is from Medieval Latin pontificātus, past participle of pontificāre “to be an ecclesiastic”; -ate 1
Explanation
To pontificate is to talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner. To pontificate properly, you need to be a know-it-all with very strong opinions and the urge to share them. Pontificate comes from the French word pontiff, another word for the Pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. As a verb (pronounced pon-TIF-i-kate), it meant "to perform the functions of the Pope or other high official in the Church." The noun pontificate (pronounced pon-TIF-i-kit) refers to the government of the Roman Catholic Church. Another word for this is the papacy.
Vocabulary lists containing pontificate
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
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The Night Circus
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Scythe
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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:
"Illness acts as a crossroads in a pontificate -- it either accelerates its momentum or diminishes its power," Vatican watcher Giacomo Galeazzi wrote in La Stampa daily on Thursday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
As the chaos unfolds, Greengrass doesn’t pontificate on the morality of these events and, in fact, maintains a rather neutral stance on them for most of the film, withholding judgment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
His pontificate was a steady point of authority in an increasingly unstable world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
Pope Leo XIV held the first Christmas mass of his pontificate on Wednesday, greeting thousands of faithful in St Peter's Square before the service in an usually informal style.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
They pontificate upon the fluffiness of the popcorn, the sweetness of the chocolate.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
All this means it’s hard not to laugh when Hegseth pontificates about his hatred of “weirdos.”
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
With his 10 years as pontiff, Francis has now reigned longer than the 7.5 years average length of the previous 265 pontificates.
From Reuters ● Mar. 13, 2023
Francis told Gaenswein to stop coming to the office and to dedicate himself to caring for Benedict, essentially ending his job as the “bridge” between the pontificates.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
It's as though he never wants to get his hands dirty so he pontificates from his moral high horse far above the rest of us mere mortals.
From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2018
Like a preacher, he pontificates his own peculiar brand of wisdom.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
In 2009, Christine Smallwood wrote an article for The Baffler in which she pontificated as to what the internet would look like, if it were made physical.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026
On Monday’s episode of The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg pontificated on the matter for an entire segment, reading from Van der Velden’s apology before going in for the takedown.
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2025
I listened where before I might only have pontificated.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2025
Wasn’t it only a couple of weeks ago that Bill Plaschke pontificated on how much better the Clippers were than the Lakers?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2023
On Christmas Eve the Pope held a solemn “station” at Santa Maria Maggiore, and two Vespers were sung, the first very simple, the second, at which the Pope pontificated, with elaborate ceremonial.
From Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan by Clement A. Miles
The White House, in response to those remarks, said Madden should “stick to pontificating about pump-and-dump fraud schemes instead of international trade,” as MarketWatch reported last year.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026
He’s talking to a group of students at a historically Black college, not pontificating to the camera or charming potential investors.
From Slate ● Dec. 12, 2024
The actor is refreshingly blasé about his process, not taken to pontificating about how he “finds” a character.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2024
Three generations of Mackeys didn’t sit around pontificating about structures of power and revolution.
From Seattle Times ● May 6, 2023
“After all of your pontificating about the contortionist?”
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
