papacy

Circa 14th century, from Middle English papacie, papassie, from Medieval Latin pāpātia, from Latin pāpa (“pope”) + -tia (“office, rank”) (English -cy).

• enPR: pāʹ-pə-sē, IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ.pə.si/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -eɪpəsi

papacy (countable and uncountable, plural papacies)

1. The office of a pope.
   1. (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.

2. 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.

3. (often derogatory) Roman Catholicism generally: synonym of popery.

• antipapacy
• caesaropapacy

• (the state of being a father or a father figure): abbacy, fatherness, paternity