noun
Meaning 1
The office of a pope.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
papacy
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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pāʹ-pə-sē
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/ˈpeɪ.pə.si/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -eɪpəsi
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CMU ARPABET: P EY1 P AH0 S IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
The office of a pope.
The office of the pope of Rome, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable, usually
Examples
- The Vatican defends the primacy of the papacy.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
The period of a particular pope's reign.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
- The papacy of John Paul II ended in 2005, after the pope's long battle with illness ended.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
Roman Catholicism generally: synonym of popery.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, derogatory, often, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
the government of the Roman Catholic Church
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pontificate
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: government, authorities, regime
History
Etymology
Circa 14th century, from Middle English papacie, papassie, from Medieval Latin pāpātia, from Latin pāpa (“pope”) + -tia (“office, rank”) (English -cy).
Across languages
Translations
46 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Armenian: պապականություն (papakanutʻyun) — the office
- Armenian: պապություն (paputʻyun) — the office
- Catalan: papat — the office
- Catalan: pontificat — the office
- Danish: pavedømme — the office
- Dutch: pausdom — the office
- Dutch: pontificaat — the office
- French: papauté — the office
- Galician: papado — the office
- Galician: pontificado — the office
- German: Papstamt — the office
- Greek: παπισμός (papismós) — the office
- Hungarian: pápaság — the office
- Italian: papato — the office
- Latin: pāpātia — the office
- Māori: popitanga — the office
- Norman: papaûté — the office
- Norwegian: pavedømme — the office
- Occitan: papat — the office
- Occitan: papautat — the office
- Occitan: pontificat — the office
- Polish: papiestwo — the office
- Polish: tiara — the office
- Polish: tron Piotrowy — the office
- Portuguese: papado — the office
- Romagnol: papêt — the office
- Russian: па́пство (pápstvo) — the office
- Spanish: papado — the office
- Swedish: påvedöme — the office
- Armenian: պապություն (paputʻyun) — the period
- Catalan: papat — the period
- Catalan: pontificat — the period
- Dutch: pausdom — the period
- Dutch: pontificaat — the period
- Galician: papado — the period
- Galician: pontificado — the period
- German: Pontifikat — the period
- Hungarian: pápaság — the period
- Italian: pontificato — the period
- Māori: popitanga — the period
- Norman: papaûté — the period
- Polish: pontyfikat — the period
- Portuguese: papado — the period
- Romagnol: papêt — the period
- Russian: па́пство (pápstvo) — the period
- Spanish: papado — the period
Real reading context