papacy
/ˈpeɪ.pə.si/ noun
Forms papacies
- noun The office of a pope.
- noun (usually) The office of the pope of Rome, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. “The Vatican defends the primacy of the papacy.”
- noun 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.”
- noun (often derogatory) Roman Catholicism generally: synonym of popery.
Synonyms
Etymology
Circa 14th century, from Middle English papacie, papassie, from Medieval Latin pāpātia, from Latin pāpa (“pope”) + -tia (“office, rank”) (English -cy).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The office and dignity of the pope, or pontiff, of Rome; papal jurisdiction.
- noun The popes, collectively; the succession of popes.
Etymology [LL. papatia, fr. L. papa a father, bishop. See Pope.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “papacy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details