archbishop

• (abbreviations): abp., Abp.

From Middle English erchebischop, archebischop, from Old English arċebisċop (“archbishop”), from Late Latin or Ecclesiastical Latin archiepiscopus, from Ancient Greek ἀρχιεπίσκοπος (arkhiepískopos), from ἀρχι- (arkhi-, “first, chief”) +‎ ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “overseer”), from ἐπισκοπέω (episkopéō, “I watch over”), from ἐπί (epí, “over”) +‎ σκοπέω (skopéō, “I examine”), equivalent to arch- +‎ bishop.

• (US, UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɑː(ɹ)t͡ʃˈbɪʃəp/, (less often) /ˈɑː(ɹ)t͡ʃˌbɪʃəp/

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archbishop (plural archbishops)

1. A senior bishop who is in charge of an archdiocese, and presides over a group of dioceses called a province (in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, etc.)
   • 1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Gambler:

     Thereupon I declared that I was a heretic and a barbarian—“Je suis hérétique et barbare,” I said, “and that these archbishops and cardinals and monsignors, and the rest of them, meant nothing at all to me.

   • 2020 November 27, Daniel Burke and Delia Gallagher, “This archbishop has become the first African American cardinal in Catholic history”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     He passed over several archbishops who would traditionally become cardinals to promote Gregory. He also moved Augustine Tolton, who died in 1897 after becoming the first African American priest, one step closer to sainthood.

   • 2025 April 21, Sam Clancy, Andrew Weil, “Former St. Louis archbishop Burke among 'popeable' candidates after Francis' death”, in KSDK‎^[2]:

     One of those 19 candidates was Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, the archbishop of St. Louis from 2004 to 2008.

• archdiocese
• diocese
• Excellency
• Grace
• prelate
• primate