Robin W. WinksJoseph Epstein
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We hate to drone on, so we’ll give you the TL;DR on pontificate. In ancient Rome, a pontifex (plural pontifices) was a member of an important council of priests. With the rise of Catholicism, the title pontifex was transferred to the Pope and to Catholic bishops. From pontifex, by way of Medieval Latin, comes the English verb pontificate, which in the early 1800s meant “to officiate as a pontiff”—that is, as a bishop or Pope. (Note that the noun pontificate, which refers to the state, office, or term of office of a pontiff had been borrowed directly from Latin in the 15th century.) By the late 1800s, pontificate was also being used derisively for lay individuals who spoke as if they had the authority of a member of the clergy. To this day the word connotes an air of spurious superiority—one might consider this sense of pontificate to be the spiritual forerunner of mansplain.
Examples of pontificate in a Sentence
Elsa Ramo, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
Who wants to pontificate about the place, let alone reminisce, when there’s an issue to close?
—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
Nicole Winfield, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025
May 20, 2025 The Context The comments came just days after Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, attended the inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate in St. Peter's Square, along with Prevost and his wife, Deborah.
—Jesus Mesa
gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for pontificate
Cite this Entry
“Pontificate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pontificate. Accessed 16 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
pontificate
1 of 2 noun
pontificate
2 of 2 verb
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