pontifical
/pɑnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.68 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of or pertaining to a pontiff.
adj
Of or pertaining to a pontiff.
adj
adj
Of or pertaining to the pontifices of Ancient Rome.
Example Sentences
- "Now had they brought the work by wondrous art / Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock / Over the vexed abyss."
- "Both ordines are related to an ordo in a pontifical in Reims, the Ordo of 1200 (Ordo XIX). The latter was to be consulted again and again, and its formulas were to have a marked effect upon the French ceremony; […]"
- "William Durandus, bishop of Mende in the south of France, compiled a pontifical in three books. William never intended his work to be a universal pontifical, but its clarity of arrangement and quality of substance, along with […]"
- "If the editio princeps was an attempt to create an authoritative version of the pontifical, such was not yet attainable."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pent- Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s Proto-Italic *ponts Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-faks Proto-Italic *pontifaks Latin pontifex Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin pontificālislbor. English pontifical Learned borrowing from Latin pontificālis.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɑnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/
- British English: /pɒnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
pontifical cell