pope

¹ American  

[pohp] / poʊp /

noun

1. (often initial capital letter) the bishop of Rome as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

2. (in the early Christian church) a bishop.

3. a person considered as having or assuming authority or a position similar to that of the Roman Catholic pope.

4. the title of the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria.

5. Eastern Church.

   1. the Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria.

   2. (in certain churches) a parish priest.

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Popé ² American  

[poh-pey] / poʊˈpeɪ /

noun

1. died 1690?, Pueblo medicine man: led rebellion against the Spanish 1680.

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Pope ³ American  

[pohp] / poʊp /

noun

1. Alexander, 1688–1744, English poet.

2. John, 1822–92, Union general in the U.S. Civil War.

3. John Russell, 1874–1937, U.S. architect.

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Pope ¹ British  

/ pəʊp /

noun

1. Alexander. 1688–1744, English poet, regarded as the most brilliant satirist of the Augustan period, esp with his Imitations of Horace (1733–38). His technical virtuosity is most evident in The Rape of the Lock (1712–14). Other works include The Dunciad (1728; 1742), the Moral Essays (1731–35), and An Essay on Man (1733–34)

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pope ² British  

/ pəʊp /

noun

1. (often capital) the bishop of Rome as head of the Roman Catholic Church

2. Eastern Orthodox Church

   1. a title sometimes given to a parish priest

   2. a title sometimes given to the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria

3. a person assuming or having a status or authority resembling that of a pope

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pope ³ British  

/ pəʊp /

noun

1. another name for ruffe

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pope Cultural  

1. The head of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope is believed by his church to be the successor to the Apostle Peter. He is bishop of Rome and lives in a tiny nation within Rome called the Vatican. Catholics believe that when the pope speaks officially on matters of faith and morals, he speaks infallibly (see papal infallibility). (See also John XXIII and John Paul II.)

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Other Word Forms

• popeless adjective
• popelike adjective

Etymology

Origin of pope

before 900; Middle English; Old English pāpa < Late Latin: bishop, pope < Late Greek pápas bishop, priest, variant of páppas father; papa

Example Sentences

He was the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Jesuit order, and the first to take the name Francis.

From The Wall Street Journal

Pope Leo has named Bishop Aldon Ronald Hicks who, like the pope, is from the Chicago area and served in Latin America, as the next archbishop of New York.

From BBC

The first pope from the Americas had sought to refocus the Catholic Church on promoting social and economic justice but presided over growing divisions.

From The Wall Street Journal

I’m going to venture that a $60 seat for the World Cup will be harder to get than a freebie to the Eras tour, or perhaps even an audience with the pope.

From The Wall Street Journal

For “what else has a council ever been,” the pope asked, “but a renewal of this meeting with the countenance of the risen Christ?”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• pontiff