pontifical meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

pontifical

adj

UK /pɒnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/ · US /pɑnˈtɪfɪk(ə)l/

Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin pontificālis.

› Of or pertaining to a pontiff.

Of or pertaining to a bishop; episcopal.

Of or pertaining to a pope; papal.

Pompous, dignified or dogmatic.

Splendid; magnificent.

Of or pertaining to the pontifices of Ancient Rome.

Poetic Of or relating to the building or forming of bridges.

Now had they brought the work by wondrous art / Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock / Over the vexed abyss.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

noun

Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin pontificālis.

A book containing the offices, or formulas, used by a pontiff.

Both ordines are related to an ordo in a pontifical in Reims, the Ordo of 1200 (Ordo XIX). The latter was to be consulted again and again, and its formulas were to have a marked effect upon the French ceremony; […]1995, Richard A. Jackson, Ordines coronationis Franciae […] , page 30:
William Durandus, bishop of Mende in the south of France, compiled a pontifical in three books. William never intended his work to be a universal pontifical, but its clarity of arrangement and quality of substance, along with […]2001, Leon F. Strieder, The Promise of Obedience: A Ritual History, page 32:

1 more example

If the editio princeps was an attempt to create an authoritative version of the pontifical, such was not yet attainable.2007, Terence Bailey, Alma Colk Santosuosso, editors, Music in Medieval Europe […] , Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., →ISBN, page 199: