Word.ws English Dictionary

pontiff

/ˈpɒntɪf/

pontiff noun: a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs; a pontifex.

Noun

pontiff (plural pontiffs)

  1. (Ancient-Rome, historical) A member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs; a pontifex.
  2. A bishop of the early Church; now specifically, the Pope.
    • In several respects John turned out to be an unexpected figure as supreme pontiff.2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 46
  3. (figuratively) Any chief figure or leader of a religion.

Proper noun capitalized: Pontiff

Pontiff (plural Pontiffs)

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.

pontiff meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Tagalog and Persian

pontiff in Tamil

போப் ஆண்டவர், கிறித்தவ ஆயர், பாதிரியார்

pontiff in Malayalam

മഹാചാര്യൻ, പോപ്പ്, പ്രധാന ഗുരു, മാർപ്പാപ്പ

pontiff in Tagalog

pope
pontipise

pontiff in Persian

pope
پونتیفکس pontifeks
More languagesFewer languages
pontiff in Vietnamese
giáo hoàng

Forms of pontiff

Noun
pluralpontiffs
Proper noun
pluralPontiffs

Plural of pontiff: pontiffs

Origin of pontiff

Borrowed from Middle French pontife m, from Latin pontifex m. Doublet of pontifex.

From pontiff, a nickname for someone who had played the role of the pope in a medieval religious play, or for a vain and pompous person.

Words formed from pontiff

Questions about pontiff

What does pontiff mean?
Pontiff means a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs; a pontifex.
What is pontiff in Tamil?
Pontiff in Tamil is போப் ஆண்டவர், கிறித்தவ ஆயர், பாதிரியார். See Pontiff meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is pontiff?
Pontiff can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce pontiff?
Pontiff is pronounced /ˈpɒntɪf/ (UK).
What is the plural of pontiff?
The plural of pontiff is pontiffs.

Words near pontiff in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pontiff (page history and authors); Pontiff (page history and authors); pontiff (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pontiff (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pontiff.wav.

Cite this entry: “pontiff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pontiff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.