What does "episcopacy" mean?

The office of bishop and the governance of a church (a religious denomination) by bishops.

How do you pronounce "episcopacy"?

Pronounced //ɪˈpɪskəpəsi//.

Common synonyms include: bishopdom, bishopric, archbishopdom, archbishopric, archbishopry, archbishopship.

//ɪˈpɪskəpəsi// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
The office of bishop and the governance of a church (a religious denomination) by bishops. countable, uncountable
"Near-synonyms: bishopric, bishopry, bishopdom, bishopship, bishophood, archbishopric, archbishopry, archbishopdom, archbishopship, archbishophood"
2
the collective body of bishops wordnet
3
Bishops collectively: Synonym of episcopate. countable, uncountable
"Near-synonyms: bishopric, bishopry, bishopdom, bishopship, archbishopric, archbishopry, archbishopdom, archbishopship"

"Near-synonyms: bishopric, bishopry, bishopdom, bishopship, bishophood, archbishopric, archbishopry, archbishopdom, archbishopship, archbishophood"

From episcopa(te) + -cy and/or episcopa(l) + -cy.

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