Link Centre Dictionary

pontificate

pon·ti·fi·cate

UK/pɒnˈtɪf.ɪ.keɪt/ US/pɔnˈtɪf.ə.keɪt/ uncommon
noun (1) verb (2)

noun

1.

the government of the Roman Catholic Church

Synonyms

verb

1.
2.

talk in a dogmatic and pompous manner

  • “The new professor always pontificates”

Origin

From the past participle stem of Medieval Latin pontificō, from Latin pontifex (“high priest”), from pons (“bridge”) + facere (“make”).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.