pontifical

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun the vestments and other insignia of a pontiff (especially a bishop)
adjective proceeding from or ordered by or subject to a pope or the papacy regarded as the successor of the Apostles
adjective denoting or governed by or relating to a bishop or bishops

Learned borrowing from Latin pontificālis.

[35] He was admitted into the Pontifical College, at the head of which was the Pontifex Maximus. — The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus, Cornelius Tacitus
We have already alluded to the determined manner in which the Pontifical Government has hitherto withstood the introduction of railways. — Pilgrimage from the Alps to the Tiber : $b or, The influence of Romanism on trade, justice, and knowledge, J. A. (James Aitken) Wylie
His neighbours, who wondered what it could all mean, had scarcely time to identify him with his pontificals before they saw him stalking along the street in a dirty striped dressing-gown. — English Eccentrics and Eccentricities, John Timbs

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