What does "antipope" mean?

A person who claims or claimed to be the pope, usually as the result of a disputed election or deposition, but is not considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be the real pope.

What is a synonym for "antipope"?

Common synonyms include: archbishop, bishop, canon, cardinal, chaplain, coadjutor.

Antipope

//ˈæntiˌpoʊp// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A person who claims or claimed to be the pope, usually as the result of a disputed election or deposition, but is not considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be the real pope.
"Meanwhile support for the ‘puppet’ antipope Nicholas V, deprived of his protector and by now excommunicated along with his emperor, rapidly withered away."
2
someone who is elected pope in opposition to another person who is held to be canonically elected wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

archbishop bishop canon cardinal chaplain coadjutor

Example

More examples

"Meanwhile support for the ‘puppet’ antipope Nicholas V, deprived of his protector and by now excommunicated along with his emperor, rapidly withered away."

Etymology

From Middle French antipape (later assimilated to anti- + pope), from Medieval Latin antipāpa.

Related phrases

roman catholic church

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.