noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Bishops seen as a group.

   "The American Roman Catholic episcopate meets regularly."

2. 2
   the office and dignity of a bishop wordnet
3. 3
   The tenure in office of a bishop.

   "Bishop Smith's episcopate ran for more than 30 years."

4. 4
   the collective body of bishops wordnet
5. 5
   A bishop's jurisdiction, the extent of his diocese. rare

Show 2 more definitions

6. 6
   the territorial jurisdiction of a bishop wordnet
7. 7
   the term of office of a bishop wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   To act as a bishop. intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

bishopricbishopryepiscopacyarchbishopricbishopdombishopdom

Example

More examples

"The American Roman Catholic episcopate meets regularly."

Etymology

From Late Latin episcopatus, from Latin episcopus, from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “watching over”).

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