Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use pontificate in a sentence

11 example sentences · noun, verb

Pontificate means the status or term of office of a pontiff or pontifex. Example: “Clinton began to pontificate, she told him that he did not exactly know what he was talking about and to hush up.”

Examples of pontificate by meaning

verbTo speak in a patronizing, supercilious or pompous manner, especially at length.

  • Clinton began to pontificate, she told him that he did not exactly know what he was talking about and to hush up.2007 May 13, Patrick Healy, “In New Role, Senator Clinton’s Strategist in Chief”, in New York Times
  • Your mommy is being a pontificating windbag."2014 January 16, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 482 - Blood

More sentences with pontificate

  • He provokes, inspires, pontificates and jargonizes unto "hegemony" and "archaic parental imagos."1982 Jan. 14, John Leonard, "Books of the Times" (book review of The Age of Desire by Joel Kovel), New York Times (retrieved 29 Nov 2012). From the entry jargonize
  • This chapter begins with an overview of the pontificate of Pius IX and the historical setting of Vatican I.2009, Mark E. Powell, Papal Infallibility: A Protestant Evaluation of an Ecumenical Issue, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, →ISBN, page 20. From the entry papal infallibility
  • I need to pontificate on something that really grinds me.2003, Steven Wunderink, Minding Your Spiritual Business: Life Stories with Life Sense, page 139. From the entry grind
  • With her disciples, Maifreda began to prepare for her pontificate.1996, Nigel Cawthorne, “Pope Joan”, in Sex Lives of the Popes: An Irreverent Exposé of the Bishops of Rome from St Peter to the Present…. From the entry Guglielmite
  • The protocol of the bull contains elements that appear to be formulaic by the time of John XVIII 's pontificate.1985, Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, volume 23, page 14. From the entry protocol
  • Once you’ve snagged a few froggos, Eggett further pontificates on the cooking techniques that should be applied for some tasty homemade frog legs.2020 July 2, Alex Springer, “The Back Burner”, in Salt Lake City Weekly, volume 37, number 6, page 12. From the entry froggo
  • The overall sentiment that prevailed throughout the passage of the Bill was that there was no place for "pontificating about red letter law"2012, Megan Gall, “A seismic shift: public participation in the legislative response to the Canterbury earthquakes”, in Canterbury Law…. From the entry red letter law
  • I have many male friends, and they frequently include me in barstool-punditry sessions where they pontificate, often with wisdom and insight, on the issues of the day.2024 July 25, Xochitl Gonzalez, “What the Kamala Harris Doubters Don’t Understand”, in The Atlantic, retrieved 12 Aug 2025. From the entry bar stool
  • The structure of society in which the wealthy intelligentsia are sustained by armies of serfs and pontificate over the politics of Tsarist Russia only serves to reinforce the Chekhovian imagery.2016, Nigel Purse, Tom Stoppard’s Plays: Patterns of Plenitude and Parsimony, BRILL, →ISBN, page 537. From the entry Chekhovian

Meaning of pontificate

  1. noun The status or term of office of a pontiff or pontifex.
  2. verb To preside as a bishop, especially at mass.
  3. verb To act like a pontiff; to express one's position or opinions dogmatically and pompously as if they were absolutely correct.

Full definition of pontificate

Questions about pontificate in a sentence

How do you use pontificate in a sentence?
Pontificate is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Clinton began to pontificate, she told him that he did not exactly know what he was talking about and to hush up.”
What is a short sentence with pontificate?
“Your mommy is being a pontificating windbag."”
What does pontificate mean?
Pontificate means the status or term of office of a pontiff or pontifex.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pontificate (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use pontificate in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/pontificate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.