Episcopal

//əˈpɪs.kə.pl̩// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An adherent of an Anglican church, especially the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, or the Anglican churches in the Philippines, western Asia, South Sudan, the Horn of Africa, and most of north Africa. nonstandard
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to the affairs of a bishop in various Christian churches.

    "Inthronization, in ancient times, immediately succeeded the rite of consecration; the new bishop being honourably placed in his episcopal chair by the prelates assembled for his consecration."

  2. 2
    Of or relating to Anglicanism or an Anglican church, especially the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, or the Anglican churches in the Philippines, western Asia, South Sudan, the Horn of Africa, and most of north Africa. not-comparable, usually

    "St. Matthew's Episcopal Church"

Adjective
  1. 1
    denoting or governed by or relating to a bishop or bishops wordnet
  2. 2
    of or pertaining to or characteristic of the Episcopal church wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abbatialabbaticalarchiepiscopalbishoplycanonicalcapitular

Example

More examples

"Inthronization, in ancient times, immediately succeeded the rite of consecration; the new bishop being honourably placed in his episcopal chair by the prelates assembled for his consecration."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English episcopal, from Late Latin episcopālis, from Latin episcopus, from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “watchman, overseer”).

Etymology 2

See episcopal.

Related phrases

alternative episcopal oversight

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