pontifical adj

1 proceeding from or ordered by or subject to a pope or the papacy regarded as the successor of the Apostles; "papal dispensation" [syn: papal, apostolic, apostolical]

2 denoting or governed by or relating to a bishop or bishops [syn: episcopal]

3 puffed up with vanity; "a grandiloquent and boastful manner"; "overblown oratory"; "a pompous speech"; "pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and pontifical hooey"- Newsweek [syn: grandiloquent, overblown, pompous, portentous]

English

Adjective

pontifical

1. of or pertaining to a pontiff
   1. of or pertaining to a bishop; episcopal
   2. of or pertaining to a pope; papal
2. pompous, dignified or dogmatic
3. of or pertaining to the pontifices of Ancient Rome

Translations

Noun

1. The office of a pontiff
2. The vestments of a bishop
3. a pontiff
4. a pontifical mass

Pontifical may refer to the Roman Pontifical, a Roman Catholic liturgical book used by a bishop.

When used as an adjective, Pontifical may be used to describe things related to the office of a bishop, such as the following:

• Solemn Pontifical Mass
• Pontifical vestments
• Pontifical gloves
• Pontifical sandals

apostolic, arrogant, bigoted, bloated, bombastic, conceited, doctrinaire, doctrinarian, dogmatic, dogmatizing, flatulent, formal, gassy, grandiloquent, important, inflated, magisterial, opinionated, opinionative, opinioned, oracular, papal, papish, papist, papistic, peremptory, pompous, popish, positive, positivistic, pronunciative, puffy, self-important, self-opinionated, self-opinioned, solemn, stilted, stuffy, swollen, tumid, turgid