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pontificate.

The status or term of office of a pontiff or pontifex.

11 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/pɒnˈtɪf.ɪ.kət/Received-Pronunciation/pɔnˈtɪf.ə.kət/US/pɔnˈtɪf.ɪ.kət/US
  1. The status or term of office of a pontiff or pontifex.

Where this word comes from

From Latin pontificatus, from pontifex (“high priest”), from pons (“bridge”) + facere (“make”).

verb/pɒnˈtɪf.ɪ.keɪt/Received-Pronunciation/pɔnˈtɪf.ə.keɪt/US/pɔnˈtɪf.ɪ.keɪt/US
  1. To preside as a bishop, especially at mass.

    intransitive
  2. To act like a pontiff; to express one's position or opinions dogmatically and pompously as if they were absolutely correct.

    intransitive
  3. To speak in a patronizing, supercilious or pompous manner, especially at length.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From the past participle stem of Medieval Latin pontificō, from Latin pontifex (“high priest”), from pons (“bridge”) + facere (“make”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.