papacy
English · Thesaurus
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papacy
- /ˈpeɪ.pə.si/
Rhymes with -eɪpəsi
Where it comes from
Circa 14th century, from Middle English papacie, papassie, from Medieval Latin pāpātia, from Latin pāpa (“pope”) + -tia (“office, rank”) (English -cy).
noun papacies
- The office of a pope.
- The office of the pope of Rome, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican defends the primacy of the papacy.
- The period of a particular pope's reign. The papacy of John Paul II ended in 2005, after the pope's long battle with illness ended.
- Roman Catholicism generally: synonym of popery.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: pontificate, popedom, holy see, apostolic see, roman see, papal supremacy, papal court, vatican, prelacy, archbishopry, bishopry, prelature, penitentiaryship, apostolate, bishopric, patriarchate
Translations
Talk about this word "papacy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/papacy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. papacy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/papacy "papacy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/papacy.Cite this
@misc{papacy_2026,
title = {papacy},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/papacy},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
