Word.ws English Dictionary

pontifex

Syllables: pon·ti·fexUS/ˈpɒn.təˌfɛks/

pontifex noun: a pontiff, state minister, or high priest, in Ancient Rome.

Noun

pontifex (plural pontifices)

  1. (historical) A pontiff, state minister, or high priest, in Ancient Rome.
    • Every traditional civilization is characterized by the presence of beings who […] embody within the temporal order the living and efficacious presence of a power that comes from above. One of these types of beings is the pontifex, according to the inner meaning of the word and according to the...1995, Julius Evola, “Regality”, in Guido Stucco, transl., Revolt against the Modern World, Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, translation of Rivolta contro il mondo moderno, →ISBN...

Forms of pontifex

pluralpontifices

Plural of pontifex: pontifices

Origin of pontifex

Learned borrowing from Latin pontifex. Doublet of pontiff.

Questions about pontifex

What does pontifex mean?
Pontifex means a pontiff, state minister, or high priest, in Ancient Rome.
What part of speech is pontifex?
Pontifex is a noun.
How do you pronounce pontifex?
Pontifex is pronounced /ˈpɒn.təˌfɛks/ (US).
What is the plural of pontifex?
The plural of pontifex is pontifices.

Words near pontifex in the dictionary

  1. pontics
  2. ponticular
  3. ponticuli
  4. ponticulus
  5. ponties
  6. pontifex
  7. pontiff
  8. pontiffs
  9. pontific
  10. pontifical
  11. Pontifical States

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pontifex (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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