conclave
/ˈkɑnˌkleɪv/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.81 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The set of apartments in which cardinals are secluded while the process to elect a pope takes place.
Example Sentences
- "On Friday, St. John's Day, the 27th of December, the cardinals entered the conclave. […] Two hours before nightfall, the whole body met again in a chapel within the conclave, and after the bull of pope Julius [II] against simoniacal practices had been read, every cardinal, in the presence of the foreign ambassadors, took his corporal oath upon the Holy Evangelists to observe the bull to the best of his abilities."
- "Of the ten Cardinals now forming the Conclave, five voted for Cardinal Geoffredo Castiglione [later Pope Celestine IV], a Milanese, nephew to Urban III, and three for Cardinal Romano [da Porto]."
- "Two years afterwards Pius IX died, and the Conclave met in the Vatican to choose his successor. Its deliberations were short."
- "[Thomas] VVol[sey]. […] Rome (the Nurſe of Iudgement) / Inuited by your Noble ſelfe, hath ſent / One generall Tongue vnto vs. This good man, / This iuſt and learned Prieſt, Cardnall Campeius [Lorenzo Campeggio], / VVhom once more, I preſent vnto your Highneſſe. / Kin[g Henry VIII]. And once more in mine armes I bid him vvelcome, / And thanke the holy Conclaue for their loues, / They haue ſent me ſuch a Man, I vvould haue vviſh'd for."
- "in conclave"
- "papal conclave"
Etymology
PIE word *ḱóm The noun is derived from Late Middle English conclave (“private chamber; (Roman Catholicism) private room where election of the Pope takes place; meeting held for this purpose”), borrowed from Middle French conclave (modern French conclave), or directly from its etymon Latin conclāve (“chamber, room; enclosed space that can be locked; dining hall”), from con- (prefix denoting a being or bringing together of several objects) (combining form of cum (“(along) with”)) + clāvis (“key”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- (“(noun) crook, hook; peg; (verb) to close”)). The verb is derived from the noun.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *kleh₂w-, conclave, conclāve
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkɑnˌkleɪv/
- British English: /ˈkɒnkleɪv/