Word
papal
Phoneticspa·pal
US/ˈpeɪpəɫ/
UK/pˈeɪpəl/
Definition
adj. relating to the Pope, who is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
adj. relating to the Pope or the papacy. Typically used in formal or ecclesiastical contexts to describe authority, decrees, or history.
Examples
“The crowd waited for the papal blessing.”
“The ambassador presented his credentials during a formal papal audience at the Vatican.”
“Historians often examine papal bulls from the Middle Ages to understand how religious authority influenced the political landscape of Europe.”
Examples
simple
“The crowd waited for the papal blessing.”
contextual
“The ambassador presented his credentials during a formal papal audience at the Vatican.”
complex
“Historians often examine papal bulls from the Middle Ages to understand how religious authority influenced the political landscape of Europe.”
Usage
Typically used attributively before the noun it modifies.
Real-World Examples
“An April 1314 papal election in Carpentras, a small city in southeastern France, turned so violent that it delayed the naming of a new pope for nearly two years.” “A forgotten fragment of a lost papal letter is offering a surprising new explanation for the Norman Conquest.” Etymology
From Middle English papal, from Old French papal and Medieval Latin pāpālis (“papal”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.