Word.ws English Dictionary

Pontifical States

Pontifical States proper noun: the Papal States.

Proper noun

the Pontifical States pl (normally plural, singular Pontifical State)

  1. (dated, historical, plural-normally) The Papal States.
    • After nearly a quarter of a century’s residence in Milwaukee, […] he was invited by President Lincoln, immediately after his inauguration, to take the appointment of Minister to the Pontifical States in Italy, […]1891, George W. Cullum, “Rufus King”, in Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, N. Y. […], 3rd edition, volume 1, page 538

Forms of Pontifical States

singularPontifical State

Origin of Pontifical States

Calque of Italian Stati Pontifici.

Questions about Pontifical States

What does Pontifical States mean?
Pontifical States means the Papal States.
What part of speech is Pontifical States?
Pontifical States is a proper noun.

Words near Pontifical States in the dictionary

  1. pontifex
  2. pontiff
  3. pontiffs
  4. pontific
  5. pontifical
  6. Pontifical States
  7. pontificalia
  8. pontificalities
  9. pontificality
  10. pontifically
  11. pontificals

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Pontifical States (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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